/"- 



Author 



^.^*0/- 




2 
O 
»9 



■^ *»* ^ 



F H-S'S 



Title 



Imprint. 



16 — i787a-2 OPO 



-A. 



BUSINESS MAN'S VIEWS 



PUBLIC MATTERS. 



SINCLAIR, TO^TSEY. 



NEW YORK: 

THE AMERICAN NEWS O IVT T' ANY, 

IQl NASSAU STREET. 
1865. 



A^ 



BUSINESS MAN'S VIEWS 



OF 



PUBLIC MATTERS. 



SUSTCLAIH TOXJSEY. 



NEW YORK: 
THE AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY, 

121 NASSAU STREET. 
1865. 



PREFACE. 



The theory of our Government is that each man is a part of it, or 
rather that each is supposed or expected to take part in its affairs. This 
not only confers privileges but demands duties. I have occasionally, 
through the newspapers of the day, contributed a mite towards the pro- 
motion of what appeared to me to be such a state of public opinion as 
"would conduce to the greatest good of all our people. Perhaps I may be 
charged with egotism in reproducing these views in this form, but 
desiring to preserve them, and presuming that a few of my friends might 
read them, I have caused their publication in this shape. I submit them 
as the views of one of the jjeople on the topics discussed, and if they 
have been or may be of any use, I shall be satisfied. 

SmCLAIR TOUSEY. 
New York, July, 1865. 



ON STRIKES. 

[The following remarks on the subject of Labor Strikes were made in 1850, before a 
Debating Societj', and were printed in pamphlet form by request of the Societj'.] 

I am opposed to Labor Strikes. I believe their results are injurious to 
the strikers and useless to the community. I grant the abstract right 
of workmen to demand increased pay for their work, but deny theu* right 
to force any person into combinations for that j^uqjose. Such force is 
injurious to the forced ones, by depriving them of a chance to work for 
their living, and compelling them either to subsist on charity or consume 
in idleness the savings of former labor. Combined strikes and trades^ 
unions do this, when they require their members to stop work, because in- 
creased wages are demanded. This was the case at Lynn, where the 
" Scabs" (those who would work for what they could get being thus called) 
were daily visited by the strikers' committee, and coaxed and threatened 
to desist from work. This is wrong. Strikes can never permanently 
benefit the strikers. "Why ? Because they are not based on correct 
principles. The price of labor, like that of all other saleable articles, must 
be regulated by supply and demand. This is proved by the fact that the 
same labor commands more pay in one place than in another. California 
furnishes proofs of this. When the fi.rst rush took place to that State, in 
1847, day laborers commanded five times as much for their services as 
they now get. Why ? Simply because that in 184:7 the demand was in 
excess of the supply, and as the supply increased, as it is always sure to 
do under high wages, the wages were corresiDondingly reduced. 

This must ever be so ; were it different, two very great injuries would 
result : First, the maintenance of high prices must, of necessity, be at the 
cost of the consumer of labor j)roducts ; and secondly, if competition be not 
allowed in the labor market (as it could not be if supply and demand did 
not regulate prices) injustice, must be done to those who would compete 
for the labor ; and this injustice dejjrives these parties of the work they 
would be glad to do. So we must come back to lettuig sujjply and de- 
mand regulate prices, and this law can never be set aside by strikes. 

Take another view of the principle involved in this system of strikes. 
A store in Wall street rents for ten times as much as a similar one 



6 

in Eighty sixth street. Why ? Simply because the demand for stores in 
Wall street is ten times as great as is the demand for stores in Eighty- 
sixth street. Now suppose the landlords of Eighty-sixth street were to 
ap2)ly theijrinciple of strikes, and demand the same rent as the landlord 
of Wall street, does any man suppose they would succeed ? We all know 
they would not, simply because the law of demand and supply is superior 
to the landlords; so it is in the case with labor, and, therefore, labor 
strikes can never override these laws. They are as immutable as the prin- 
ciples of cause and efiect. 

Take another view. The consumers of any given article far outnum- 
ber the producers of that article. In some cases, perhaps, there are fifty 
consumers to one producer. Now, any strike or other cause that enhances 
the i)rice of this product is at the cost of the consumer, for we all know 
that it is the consumer who eventually pays for all labor and profit of 
production ; and the hatter who has to pay more for his shoes in conse- 
quence of an advance caused by a strike, must in his turn ask higher 
prices for his hats ; and so with the tailor and others ; and if these cannot 
get advanced prices for their labor, all advance made to the shoemaker 
for his labor must be at the cost of these other workers ; and this certainly 
is unjust to them, for its efl^ect is to dejjreciate their labor by requiring 
more of it to buy their shoes. 

So it is with all branches of industry and every class of consumers ; all 
advances in the cost of manufacturing an article are at the expense of the 
consumer, and as there must always be more consumers of manufactured 
articles than producers, their interest must not be overlooked in any j^ro- 
posed change. Strikes never benefit the consumer. The producer of one 
product is of necessity the consumer of some other product, hence the in- 
terest of the consumer is greater. Again : the system of strikes is unjust 
to the best workmen, even under the " piece" system, by compelling a uni- 
formity of prices for anything that will pass inspection. This dulls the 
spur of ambition to excel in the quality of work, destroys the principle of 
"reward to merit," and i^laces the passable botch on a jiar with the most 
perfect workman, all of which is at the cost of the consumer ; therefore I 
oppose these strikes. I believe in letting good work bring more than 
poor. Strikes place all on a common level, provided the work merely 
1)ears inspection. 

It is said that the prices paid for work are not sufiicient for the sup- 
port of the workers. This proves that too many are engaged in that 
kind of work. The proper and only way to remedy that is, for some of 
those workers to quit that branch and follow others. But I am told that 



all branclies are over-crowded with workers. But I deny tliat all branches 
are thus overstocked with labor everywhere. This overstock is confined 
to localities, and is not universal. This is proved by the fact that the same 
labor commands much higher prices in one place than in another, simply 
because demand and supply are different in these localities ; and strikes 
will never equalize or regulate these diiferences of localities. 

Again. There are no laws compelling men to continue in work that 
pays so poorly, and if they continue in it, it shows that they can (being 
ruled by interest) do better at that than anything else, or they would not 
follow it. Therefore, strikes are useless. 

Again. If the suiplus of labor by competition for work has reduced 
wages to a low figure, which in its turn has increased the stock of manu- 
factured articles on hand, how can you expect an increase of wages to all 
those workers, in the absence of an increased demand for their products ? 
It is impossible ; if you lessen the number of workers, and the demand for 
theu' labor is not decreased, it would be reasonable to demand increased 
pay ; in fact, such decrease of the labornrs would command an increase of 
their pay (though at the cost of the consumer) ; on the other hand, if the 
number of workers remained the same, and there should be an increased 
demand for theii- products, then their pay might be increased ; thus again 
proving the omnipotence of supi^ly and demand in regulating prices. 

Strikes never add to consumption of manufactures, and of course can- 
not permanently add to wages ; strikes decrease consumption, and thus 
injure the business of others. 

While the shoemakers of Lynn are on a strike they cannot consume the 
coats, hats, &c., of the ot'aer mechanics of their town, and these others being 
curtailed in the sale of theu* labor in manufactured articles, cannot buy of 
the producers of provisions and luxuries as much as formerly, and we ot 
New York, who act as the go-between of both consumers and producers 
are curtailed in our business. Therefore, I opj^ose these strikes as injuri- 
ous to all classes of community and beneficial to none. 

I have said that if wages were advanced by strikes, it must be at the 
cost of the consumer. I will illustrate this in a home case. In this city 
there is a baker and miller, who, by the aid of capital and machinery- 
produces flour and bread cheaper and better than any other man in the 
city. Now, I believe that good flour and cheap bread are of the utmost 
importance to the consumer, (and these articles are consumed by the en- 
tire public), especially the jjoor. The other millers and bakers attempted 
to apply the principle of strikes to this man by entei'ing into a compact 
to see if they could not get him to sell as dearly as they did. He was not 



8 

influenced by them, and went on selling bread and flour cheaper than the 
others. Now, suppose these strikers had gained their points, at whose 
cost would it have been ? Why, the consumer must have paid the extra 
price. 

So with all strikes when successful in their demands ; hence I am op- 
Ijosed to them. If they fail in getting the advances demanded, they entail 
enormou? expenses of money and loss of time on the strikers, and therefore 
I oppose them. 

' I am told that the tailors may striKC for higher wages — I hope not. 
It is said, in excuse for the contemplated strike, that their wages are too 
low. Will strikes lessen the ultimate number of tailors or increase the 
ultimate demand for their work ? If neither, then a strike will be injuri- 
ous to them. There are many causes for the low price of needlework, by 
which I mean all work done hj the needle, and the most controlling in 
its efiects on prices for ordinary work on vests, pants, and cheap coats, is 
the immense amount of work done by the wives and daughters of thou- 
sands of farmers and others living near our big cities. Wagon-loads by 
the score of this work are done weekly by these people, and must con- 
tinue to be thus done. Strikes will not lessen their number one single 
person; in fact, a strike among the tailors would have the effect to in- 
crease their number, and as these persons live cheaper than can our city 
tailors, the chances are that, once embarked in the work, it would be very 
difiicult for the tailors to get the work out of t heir hands again ; in fact 
it would be almost impossible, for now, while the tailors are at work, 
these country workers are powerful competitors, and they would be much 
more powerful by an increase of their number, and they would surely 
thus increase, should the city workers stop and carry on a strike. But, 
say our city tailors, we can drive these peojile out in the future, if we don't 
succeed in our strike, by resuming work again at the old rates. Not so, 
my friends. These country workers, having left their callings to make 
cheap clothing, vnll, in self-defense, stick to it, for their former work is 
now done by others. Don't you see, my friends, that this striking is not 
all on one side. It is a two-edged sword. It cuts two ways. 

I told you that if strikers succeed in getting advanced wages it 
must be at the cost of the consumer. Friday papers furnish me proofs of 
this : 

Cabinet Makers' Union.— On Wednesday evening a meeting of cabinet makers and 
manufacturers was held at Central Hall, Mr. Schoeuenberger in the Chair. The organiza- 
tion of a Bosses' Union was completed, with a view to protecting the interests of the trade 
in the maintenance of a uniform standard of prices, to enable them to pay the wages de- 
manded by the journeymen. 



This is to the jjoint, and this must always be the result. Strikes benefit 
no one. A few words as to the cost of strikes. The Lynn shoemakers 
have expended in cash, saved from former earnings, some $10,000, a part 
of which was used for music, banners, dances, processions, etc. The time 
lost in idleness would have brought them, even at the low wages they 
complained of, at least $30,000 more, making $40,000. Now, how long 
will it take them, supposing they get the advanced prices they demanded, 
to earn this immense sum over and above what they were getting befoft 
they struck, and how long will it take them to make uj) this great loss at 
the old wages ? Don't you see that strikes are extremely costly as well as 
wholly useless ? 

Trades' unions and strikers' combinations have advocated the requir- 
ing of three years' apprenticeship before men can have work at estal)lished 
prices. This at first sight looks well, as inducing good workmen ; but 
there are other views of this matter. Some men are better qualified by 
taste, genius, and inclination, to perfect a job after one year's instruction, 
than others are at three, and to compel the former to work as appren- 
tices as long as the latter is highly .unjust. When a man can do work 
well he ought to have the best prices, whether he has worked one month 
or ten years under instruction. That is the only true and just principle 
of apprenticeship. 

Again. To prevent persons from working at any trade who have not 
served a given time as pupils is to jjrevent competition and dejirive these 
of oj^portunities to earn their living, and this at the cost of persons who 
consume the products of such labor. Many mechanics leave families un- 
provided for at their death. Among them are half-grown lads, who, by 
a little training (not three years) and the spur of necessity, may soon pro- 
duce as good a hat, or boot, or coat, or lay as many bricks, as did their 
father, the dead mechanic. Now I assert that these boys are entitled to 
all they earn, just as much as is the man, whether they have served longer 
or shorter as apprentices, the only test being the production of equal 
amounts of equally good work. 

Strikers' and trades' unions prevent such a fair system of pay for so 
much labor, by demanding long apprenticeships. They are all unjust. 
They have grown out of that old and nearly exploded idea of the people 
looking to soma person beyond themselves to take care of them. Trades' 
unions and strikers' combinations are the oS'-shoots of the idea that peo- 
ple must look to governments or societies to see to them. Their ten- 
dency is to destroy the principle of self-dependence, reliance on one's 
own self, on one's own capacity to stem the tide of life's struggles, to 



10 

destroy all individuality, to deaden all personal ambition, and to blot out 
all those great efforts by which a man works his way up and over the 
difficulties that meet him in the battle of life. These societies sink the 
man in the mass, deprive him of ambition to excel, beget in him a feeling 
of dependence on something besides himself, foster in him that slavish 
idea of " 1 caii't da anytJilng^^'' instead of encouraging that other and 
nobler idea, " I will do everything^ All such societies and combinations 
Ire bad, bad, bad. Mr. Draper, of Lynn, stated at the Cooper Institute, 
in asking for money to aid the strikers, that there were in his town 300 
indigent shoemakers out of work, suppcted by charity. 

Now just see what injustice the strike did in this case. These 300 men 
wanted work ; they needed work ; they could not live without work ; yet 
these strikes compelled those poor men to stop earning their bread ; and not 
satisfied with this they actually compelled them to subsist on charity; and 
still worse, if i^ossible, they really taxed those who had something to live 
on, with the support of these 300 indigent men ; and after using up all they 
could beg at home for their support, these strikers actually sent beggars all 
over the country to beg of hard-working jnen money to support these 300 
paupers in idleness ; and this man. Draper, pretending to be fifree American 
workingman, had the audacity to stand before a New York audience 
of laboring men and ask for money to support these idlers, not from 
choice, as he tells us, but idlers by the demands of these strikers ; and 
that, too, in face of the fact that the cessation of these men from work must 
have the positive efi"ect to increase the price of the articles made by the 
strikers, and consumed by those whose money they were begging. Thus 
it is with strikes. The workers of this city ought to have sent Draper 
aome vrith his pockets as empty as his head. 

We are told that the bosses are always ready and willing to oppress 
the workmen by low wages, and sympathy is demanded for the men. 
This is a fiilse issue ; there is no sense in it. It involves the idea of 
classes, and fosters unwise prejudices, and separates communities by mak- 
ing fictitious distinctions. The boss of to-day is in this country the 
journeyman of to-morrow, and the journeyman of to-day is the employer 
of to-morrow. We have no castes or classes, with exclusive privileges, 
not open to all alike. The interest of the worker cannot be separated 
from that of the employer; one is dependent on the other, and neither 
can exist alone. Hence, all ideas calculated to prejudice one against the 
other injure both. 

Again. The journeymen are just as apt to attempt to oppress the bosses 
by asking more pay, as are the bosses, on tlie other side, to attempt to 



II 

oppress the journeymen by reducing their wages. They both act from 
self-interest, each trying to get the greatest income from the least outgo ; 
and both are justified as single individuals ; but both would be wrong in 
compelling others to join them by the aid of strikes, societies, unions, &c. 

We are told that government should by legislation make such pro- 
vision for the people as would obviate the necessity of strikes and trades' 
unions. I protest against this interference by government with our in- 
dividual affairs. We already have too much of this interference — too 
much of governmental prjang into private business. I am opposed to the 
whole system as tending to centralization ; to building up a powerful 
centralized despotism, by the down-pulling of jjersonal rights and in- 
dividual privileges. If you ask the government to feed, clothe, protect, 
and furnish you with work, and interpose in your behalf as regards em- 
ployment and wages, what more natural than for government to turn 
round and demand from you whatever it chooses in the way of taxes, fat 
offices, and expensive officials, and a complete surrender of all your jDcr- 
sonal liberties and individual rights, under the plea of the public good. 

No, Mr. Chairman, the workingmen of America should be the very last 
of all the world to ask protection of government ; but they should be the 
first to demand of that government the right to be let alone. They should 
remember that this idea of depending on the government deadens all im- 
provement in their condition. France proves this. There everything has 
always been done under the fatherly care of the government, and there the 
condition of the workers has not improved for a hundred years, and never 
will till the peoijle rise superior to the government. Let American workers 
ask nothing from the government. 

In France, a farmer can neither sow nor reap till the Mayor of the 
Commune says " do it." And what is their condition ? Non-jirogressive. 
And so with all branches of industry in that country : government is all 
and everything —the workers nobody or nothing. 

Keep clear of governmental care ; keep clear of strikes ; shun trades' 
unions ; keep out of combinations ; stick to individual effort ; make your 
services so valuable to the employed, so necessary to the public, that they 
cannot be dispensed with, and you will have no need of strikes or gov- 
ernment aid. 



HABEAS CORPUS— MARTIAL LAW, &c. 

To the Editor of the New Torh Times : 

It occurs to me, Mr. Editor, that all danger of a conflict between the 
National and State authorities may be avoided by a declaration and en 



12 

forceuient of Martial Law. While such declaration might be in force, 
there would be no attempts made by county judges to do what honorable 
and learned judges of the United States Courts would not, in tlieir patri- 
otic wisdom, attempt ; or if some notoriety-seeking Justice should be 
foolish enough to try his powers, he would And a difference between the 
" say so" of his court and the " do so" of the military authority. A few les- 
sons of this sort would do much toward crushing out Northern sympathy 
for Southern treason. I am no advocate for National usurpations against 
State rights. I believe in the rights of the States, and I also believe in 
the duty of the National or United States Government, and one of the 
most paramount of its duties is the maintenance of its own authority, for 
on su^ch maintenance depend not only the rights of the States, but also 
the rights of persons and property. It is not necessary, however, for the 
Government to declare martial law over the whole State in order to 
avoid apprehended conflict of authority. 

It need only proclaim martial-law to be in force over the places and 
properties belonging to it, or dock-yards, forts, arsenals, &c., &c. In and 
over these, the authority and jurisdiction of the Government is supreme? 
except for the service of civil j)rocess by the State authorities, or writs of 
habeas c(yrpus, &c. The right to serve these in these forts and places was re- 
served to the State when it ceded the lands and water fronts to the Gov- 
ernment ; but if the Government, in the exercise of its constitutional au- 
thority for the upholding of its laws, declares the existence of martial law 
in and over the places and grounds belonging to it, and adjacent thereto, 
then the civil law, and the right of the State to serve its processes therein, is 
for the time suspended, and no good citizen, either on or off the bench, will 
attempt to interfere. Let martial law be forthwith declared at Fort La- 
fayette, and all other places where State prisoners are or may be confined. 

Avgust 17, 18G1. 



ABOUT FREEING AND ARMNG SLAVES. 

[AnH-Slavery Standard^ Aug. 2, 1863.] 
To the President of the United States : 

Honored Sir : If ever the voice of the people might be considered 
the voice of God, it was when that voice called you to Washington. 
Partisan politicians had cb-agged our country down to the lowest deeps 
of degradation. Conspiracy had poisoned the head of the nation. 
Treason had mined the foundations of the capital. Volcanoes were rum- 
bling over a great part of our land, threatening to pour forth the lava 
that should destroy. Dark clouds, portending great storms, appeared on 



13 

the horizon. Distant thunders, betokening approaching tempests, were 
heard all around. Fitful gusts of wind gave warning of the coming 
tornado. The great ship of State, under the control of insane officers and 
a treason-maddened crew, was rushing on toward deadly breakers. The 
passengers, wild with affright, and, in their despair, sweating great drops 
of blood, called for help, and the voice of the Almighty, si^oken by 
human tongues, called you, Abraham Lincoln, to the helm. I doubt if 
sacred or profane history can produce a more direct providential interven- 
tion in the affairs of a people. I speak reverently when I say that God 
knew the instrument he was selecting for the salvation of this nation. I 
design no flattei-y for you, Mr. President — none whatever ; you are the 
mere human clay in the hands of the Almighty Potter, to be foshioned by 
His will. Yet, like all human agents employed by our Universal Father 
for the good of his children, you are endowed with jjowers of discretion, 
and will be held responsible for the proper use thereof. Since you have 
filled the great office you have been called to, you have done well. I Ijelieve 
no man could have done better. God be praised for what you have accom- 
plished. If the prayers and wishes of thousands of honest hearts are of avail 
to a public officer, you, Mr. President, have been and are well sustained. 
Nightly, from the homes of loyal thousands whose loved ones are doing 
and dying for their country's life, and weekly from ten thousand pulpits, 
ascend heartfelt prayers for the head of the Nation — for you, Abraham Lin- 
coln. See to it that no deed of yours shall give cause of regret to these 
prayerful ones. Let not the blessings so lavishly invoked on your head 
be, by any act of yours, turned to curses. Providence has invested you 
with as much authority as ever fell to human hands. Use it wisely ; use 
it well. On assuming this authority, you found your country divided by 
treason. On the side of the traitors you found slavery ; on the side of 
loyalty you found freedom. These hosts still oppose each other. Still, 
slavery is trying to destroy the government established for freedom. Are 
you doing all that your high position demands for freedom, for govern- 
ment, for right, for justice ? Do you realize, as you ought, that while you 
hesitate to assume what you may conscientiously consider doubtful 
powers, in behalf of freedom as against slave- working rebellion, thou- 
sands on thousands of your loyal fellow-citizens are going do'WTi to their 
graves ? Do you realize that honest homes are made desolate by camp- 
engendered disease, that walketh by noonday and resteth not by night ? 
Death deprived you of a loved one since you have been President — death 
in its least repulsive form. Your cherished one breathed its last in the 
arms of parents, surrounded by the care that never tires. Yet you 



14 

grieved. Think, Mr. President, of the heart-rending miseries that thou- 
sands of fathers as loving as yourself daily and hourly suffer by the prolon- 
gation of this terrible war. Your child died under your roof; their sons 
are dying on the battle-fields, wasting in deadly camps, and marching 
down to the dead from diseased hospitals. Names of killed apd wounded 
and sick fill our papers. Death reaps a rich harvest. Sorrow reigns 
supreme. Millions of people believe that much, very much, of future woe 
may be prevented if you will call to the aid of the nation all the help 
within its reach, without stopping to see if the Constitution provides 
such aid. Our national edifice is on fire. The flames are destroying its 
timbers. The great want is water, water. "We have no time to waste in 
discussions as to the nature of these elements. We know that the one 
that is in the greatest force will conquer. The fire of rebellion, aided by 
the work done by slaves, is destroying us. Our only safety is in 
pouring on the Waters of Freedom fast enough to quench the flames. 
We have been manning the engines for long, burning months. Our 
men have dropped dead in their harness. Still we have worked, and 
still the infernal fire rages. Slaves that are to-day helping rebellion by 
their labor had rather work for the nation. All they ask is opporhm it ij, op- 
portunity, OPPORTUNITY. To you, Mr. President, has God intrusted 
the duty of preserving this nation, of putting out this fire. Will you not 
rise above all party or i^ersonal prejudices, and grasp every and all means 
that can be reached ? This terrible rebellion is in one section. The other 
section is loyal. God deals with people in mass. The people of the re- 
bellious States as a mass are armed traitors. If there are any loyal States 
among them, they should be protected in their rights, but such protection 
should not tend to the defense of traitors nor to the destruction of loyal 
ones in other States. They may be pitied for the misfortunes of locality. We 
of the loyal States have suffered, are suffering badly, as a icJiole. This loyal 
few of the traitor region mustnot complain if they, too, suffer. The nation is 
rich, is just. If by any act of the government these should sustain unjust 
loss, they can be made whole — not so with the nation. If its life is taken 
by this rebellion, no earthly power can restore it. To you, Mr. President, 
under Providence, we look to preserve its existence. We are laying down 
our lives and pouring out our money to aid you. All we ask is that we 
be not utterly exhausted before you call to our assistance the hundreds 
of thousands of slaves (now working for the rebels), every one of whom 
would gladly work for us if invited or allowed. As a mass, these slaves 
arc our friends. They have acted as our guides and pilots. They are 
ready to work and to fight for the old flag, if that flag will only protect 
them. Justice to them as a people dictates their emancipation. Protec- 



15 

tion to ourselves demands tliat we use them. The first principle of war 
that of weakening your enemy, requires that we invite them to our 
lines. Our rebellious enemy lives on the food they produce. His sol- 
diers rest while his slaves do the tiresome work that wears out our 
brave men. You, Mr. President, can change all this. The common- 
sense eloquence that your proclamations carry can send hope to the 
loyal, fear to the rebels, and joy to the slave. As a mass, the people 
of the rebel States are traitors; as a mass they should be punished, 
Inviting their slaves to help us would be a punishment: that punishment 
should be administered. You are the man to apply it. The harvest fields 
of the loyal States are white with the bread that is to feed us. Hands 
cannot be had to gather in the great crops a kind Providence has given 
us. You ask for tliree hundred thousand more men. The nation is will- 
ing to give them. But where shall they come from at this season ? If 
the harvest is left ungathered, we invite starvation for the future. The 
rebel States, too, have their harvest to secure. Tliey have slaves to secure 
it. We have none. Thank God we have none. A proclamation from 
you, Mr. President, inviting their slaves to heli^ us, with a promise of free • 
dom, would bring more strong arms and willing hearts to our armies in 
the South than you now ask the loyal States to furnish. This weakens 
our enemy, gives us the services of men to gather our harvests, and saves 
the lives of thousands of as true men as ever lived. The wickedness of 
this treason deserves this punishment. Our own self-preservation de- 
mands it. View this in another light. Admit that the majority of the 
people of the traitor States are loyal and should not be wronged of their 
property or personal rights. All governments take private jjroperty for 
public uses by paying a reasonable price therefor. Without this well-set- 
tled principle nations could not exist. Without it we could have no 
roads, canals, parks, or other public things. Apply this principle to 
those loyal ones of the South whose slaves might leave them on your in- 
vitation. No injustice would ensue. If they are loyal, they ought to aid 
the nation to the extent of their ability. We of the loyal States do that. 
Those of the traitor States must bear their share of the burden. This is 
simple justice. Wherever our army goes, there also go Federal laws. These 
laws exact obedience from a black slave just as imperatively as from a 
white freeman. These laws protect the slave in his right to life. For this 
protection he should yield service. You, ]VIr. President, can acquire that 
service. In conclusion, I implore you, by your love of country, by the 
sympathy you bear your fellow-citizens, by the love of Freedom, by your 
regard for right, for justice, to call to- your aid the help of all classes op 

PERSONS, IN ALL PARTS OF OUR COUNTRY, whether they be WHITE or BLACK, 



16 



BOND OR FREE, NATIVE OR ALIEN, let all wbo can help have an opportu- 
nity, and when in future times the historian writes your name, it will be in 
LETTERS OP GOLD as the PRESERVER of the nation. God bless you, 
Abraham Lincoln ! 



CENTRAL REPUBLICAN CLUB. 

The Central Republican Club met at room No. 24 Cooper Institute, 
last evening, Dr. Kennedy in the chair. The meeting was largely attended, 
and the following resolution, introduced by Mr. Tousey, laid over from 
last week, was considered : 

Besohed^ That the surest and quickest way to end the rebellion and 
establish a permanent peace is to declare immediate and unconditional 
emanciijatiou. 

Mr. Riddle, the first speaker, opposed the adoption of the resolution. 
He believed there could, be no peace except in the preservation of the 
Union. Our safety was in getting the Union sentiment of the South in 
active co-oj)eration. The South, if driven to unite against us by a j^ro- 
clamation of emancipation, could never be conquered. Their determined 
spirit was shown in the expression they had made use of, " that if their 
mothers were Northern women, they would delight to trample in their 
blood." Emancipation must needs come, but there was no occasion for 
hurrying Providence. 

Mr. Robert Shannon thought the resolution was just and right, and to 
the ijuqjose. He was for immediate, unconditional emancipation. Sla- 
very liy the South had been made paramount to the Constitution, the 
Union, and the peace of the country. If we would get rid of our troubles 
we must get rid of the cause. 

Mr. R. M. Poer took the Conservative side. It was a question of ex- 
pediency. The Abolitionists called expediency cowardice, and it was 
cqwardice, but at the same time necessary. To try to overturn the insti- 
tution by any sudden shock would involve a war of races, and tear up 
society by the roots. A lion brought up on milk might be gentle enough 
to lie down with the lamb, but let that lion once lap blood, and it will be 
as furious as ever it was in its native wilds. So with the slave when he 
gets a taste of freedom. 

Jlr. Tousey said that as Slavery was the cause of the rebellion, of 
course, if the cause were removed, the effect would cease ; he was therefore 
in favor of the resolution. If, as the Anti-Emancipationists held, the 
slaves if set free should prove an idle, shiftless, non-jaroducing class, a 
field would be open for free labor; he was therefore in favor of the reso- 



17 

lution. If the Republican party did not adopt the plan of emancipation, 
the Democratic party would ; he would forestall the Democrats ; at any 
rate the paity could better afford to be in the right than in the wrong; 
therefore, he was in favor of the resolution. Loyalty that had to be 
bought was not worth having, and the Border States would help us ])ut 
little, without they adopted our cause heart and soul. The rebels were 
employing the blacks in their army against us, while we would not allow 
any of our black population to handle a musket or a spade. It seems only 
necessary that the President should ask people without distinction of 
color to fight for the Union. He jjrotested against the army receiving 
fugitives as such. Secretary Cameron had said that if any of the slaves 
desired to go back to their masters,why, don't " hinder them." But this was 
only openmg the door for spies. K the people of England — ^he did not 
refer to the aristocracy — believed we were fighting for freedom, we should 
get their sympathy. If the South had the right to hold slaves under the 
Constitution, that right was now abrogated by her violation of that in- 
strument. For these and other reasons the speaker favored the resolu- 
tion. 

Mr. Walker also spoke for the resolution. Not a drop of blood was 
shed in the West Indies on the occasion of emancipation. In 1848, when 
the French abolished slavery, not a drop of blood was shed by negroes. 
He referred to an article in The Westminster Review, showing that in 
pounds, shillings, and pence emancipation was a benefit to the West 
Indies and to Great Britain herself 

Mr. Wm. Oland Bourne offered a resolution as a substitute to the one 
before the meeting, taking the ground that in the present condition of the 
country there can be but two parties, one maintaining inviolate the Con- 
stitution and the Union, and the Government established by it ; aud the 
other, directly with arms, or indirectly by other means, conspiring to 
overthrow the Constitution and destroy the Union and the Government. 
To pass the first resolution would be to stultify Congress, tlie Republican 
party, and the Constitution itself. He referred to the resolutions of the 
23d of July, which declared that the war was for the preservation of the 
Government, and not one of oppression. He also read an article from 
the Tribune of June 5, 1861, in regard to the effect of the war. 

At the conclusion of ]VIr. Bourne's remark, without taking any action 
on the resolutions, the Club adjourned for one week. 

iV. Y. Tribune, August 28, 1861. 

[This organization was the first one in the Union to discuss Emanci- 
pation by the national authorities. The discussion continued for several 
weeks and excited much attention, both at home and abroad.] 



18 



" BARBARITIES OF THE WAR." 

To the Editor of the New Yorh Times : 

Your remarks under the above head, in Thursday's issue, were very 
good ; but do not, in my opinion, reach the case. You attribute the bar- 
baric atrocities wreaked on our poor soldiers, to the Proclamation of Davis 
and Beauregard. Incidentally^ this may be true. Primarily^ it is short of 
the truth. The cause of these outrages is nothing more nor less than the 
inherent and natural larharism of Slavery. No slaveholder is or can be 
civilized. They may be highly educated — many are — but the most 
refined and intelligent are simply educated larbarians — nothing more, 
nothing less. Slavery is an aggression on the rights of others, founded 
on force over weakness — the invariable practice of all barbarians — and 
those who practice Slavery know nothing of civilization and the amenities 
of that kind of society. Davis and Beauregard merely gave wordy forms," 
in their Proclamations, to the barbarism of their slaveholding habits, and 
these Proclamations would have been like seed on dry ground, but for 
the institution of Slavery existing among and upheld by those to whom 
these proclamations were addressed. This institution had, by its bar- 
baric tendencies, fitted the ground to receive the terrible seed sown by the 
rebel leaders in their proclamations. These men are by nature no worse 
nor more savage than we of the North, but Slavery has made them bar- 
barians, and compelled them to be what they are. They will always be 
cruel to their opi^oneuts as long as they are unjust enough to be slave- 
holders. Where there is no Slavery among educated people there will be 
none of these barbarities. Abolish Slavery, and these men become 
civilized, and these atrocities will cease and the rebellion be crushed. 
Slavery is barbarism, and those who practice it are only barbarians and 
must be cruel to all who oppose them. Yours, «&c. 

August, 1861. 



ABOUT PRISONERS OF WAR, PRIVATEERS, &c. 

To the Editor of the New YorTc Times : 

In your paper of last Thursday, you seem to have some hesitancy as to 
the proper way of treating prisoners of war, pirates and others found in 
arms against the government and people of the United States. 
Do not accuse me of egotism if I assert that there is no need of any halting 
(but there is need of a vast amount of haltering) in the matter. What 
are the facts ? A part of the people have attempted to subvert the gov- 



19 



emment by force of arms. The government (the centralized and legal 
embodiment of the jjeople), in maintaining its authority, also resorts to 
arms. Collisions and battles occur. Both sides take prisoners. Now 
comes the question, " "What shall be done with these men ?" I admit the 
question is one of vast importance, not only as regards the proper way of 
dealing with the rebellion, but also as to the ^eraowaZ rights and privileges, 
pains and penalties of the captured men. TTie government sliould not treat 
its captured rebels as 2}risoners of rear. Neither should it do that other and 
much worse thing, discharge them on their parol. To do the first is a 
virtual admission that the rebels are a lawful enemy. This mu^t not be 
admitted. If it is, ground is laid for their recognition by foreign nations. 
The government must do all in its power to place the rebels outside of 
law, and not allow them to claim or exercise any legal privileges what- 
ever. 

They are rel^els, and should be treated as such. When taken in arms 
against the government, they should be disarmed, and compelled to aid 
the government in maintaining itself against the rebels. They should 
never ])e treated as prisoners of war, neither should the government ever 
recognize a flag of truce from rebels. Every man bearing such a flag 
should be arrested as a rebel, the bearing the flag being prima facie ev- 
idence of his being a rebel ; for if there were no rebels there could be no 
rebellion, and if there were no rebellion, there would be no war or 
collision needing the intercession of a flag of truce. Every bearer of one 
should be locked up as a rebel. No treating with them as lawful enemies. 
No discharging or swearing allegiance. Men that forswear their natural 
inherited allegiance, by engaging in a rebellion against a government like 
ours, cannot be trusted on their oath, especially an oath taken under 
such circumstances. Never trust a rebel's oath. 

So much for land rebels. Now about rebels and jjirates afloat. They 
should be hung at the yard-arm of the national vessel capturing them, 
without ever being brought ashore to be tried and sympathized with, 
and kept at the public expense. The summary hanging of a few would 
scare the rest and drive them from the ocean. It may be asked, why 
hang water rebels (jjirates), and not hang land rebels ? I answer, the for- 
mer not only rebel against and defy the Government, but add to that the 
preying on private property^ and by all laws of all nations are outlaws, and 
not entitled to any of the legal amenities of ordinary criminals. The excuse 
that they have letters-of-marque from the head rebel is of no avail. He 
cannot delegate power to others that he does not hold himself He and 
his rebel coadjutors have no legal national existence, and their warrants 



20 

for pii-acy (or privateering) are of no more validity than so much paper 
from a wild Comanche chief, authorizing raids on the border settlers. 
All these piratical rebels should be hung at the yard-arm instanter. 
Being caught in the act is proof enough without wasting time in court 
trials. If they are not pirates then is Tillman a murderer, and should 
be given over to trial and execution. I may be told that if we hang 
these men, the rebels will retaliate on our men taken by them. In fact, 
this is already threatened. "Well, terrible as it is, the sentence must be 
written. Let them retaliate. Do not accuse me of barbarism or lack of 
sympathy for our poor unfortunates who are now or may hereafter be 
prisoners. I have personal friends now in their hands, and realize fully 
what I write when I say " let the rebels retaliate". If we hesitate one 
moment to hang theii* pirates and pimish their rebels on account of any 
fear for the safety of our men in their hands, or in consequence of any 
threats they make, then we may just as well lay down our arms and 
yield up the government to them, and sue for mercy. 

Rebels taken in arms against the government must not be treated as 
prisoners of war subject to an exchange. To do so discourages our own 
loyal men, who will not fight for such result. Flags of truce borne by 
rebels must not be respected, but their bearers must be treated as rebels. 
To do otherwise is to encourage treason. Privateers must be summarily 
hanged as a warning to others and as a protection to law-abiding citi- 
zens. No leniency, no recognition of letters-of-marque, no attention to 
threats of retaliation. Let the Government be firm, and swift in its 
punishment of treason and piracy, and j)eace will the sooner retm-n to our 
borders. 

August^ 1861. 



IFrom the KnickerbockeT Magazine, October^ 1861.] 

(Written in August, 1,S6L) 

EMANCIPATION. 

ITS tNPLUENCE ON THE EEBELLION AND EFFECT ON THE WHITES. 

We are in a rebellion or insurrection of extraordinary magnitude. 
Common consent attributes it to the existence of Slavery. The cause 
being removed, the disease dies. The removal of a dam allows the free 
course of the stream. Remove the dam of Slavery from the broad river 
of the Union, and the pure waters of Freedom will speedily wash this 
foul scum of Rebellion into the great gulf of the Past. Slavery, how- 
ever, is, in the opinion of many well-meaning people, a constitutional dis- 
ease, to be removed only by a remodeling of that instrument to suit the 



21 

new condition of ths political patient. The honest scruples of these per- 
sons must be respected. Another large class assert that the disease is not 
constitutional, but in violation of that law of national life, and that all 
our political diseases arise from such violation. The opinions of these 
people are also entitled to attention, and however they may differ from 
the former on these matters, all agree that, had there been no slavery in 
the South, there would have been no rebellious attempts to overthrow the 
Government and extend " the institution." This is the common platform 
on which all stand, one of its planks being a desire to end this rebellion 
and establish peace with honor to the Government and the people. -So 
far so good. 

Another plank in this political structure is the admission that Eman- 
cipation would end the rebellion at once and effectually. The first-named 
parties, that is to say, those who believe that the Constitution protects 
Slavery, are loth to adopt this course so long as there is any possibility of 
otherwise crushing the rebellion, but are willing to resort to this remedy 
if nothing else vnll cure the disease. I would willingly address a few 
words to this class. Many of the wisest and best men whom our coun- 
try has ever produced, deny most emphatically that the Constitution pro- 
tects or even recognizes Slavery, but for the present purpose let it be 
admitted that it does both recognize and protect that institution. Is ow 
it is a principle of law, as well as of common sense and common justice 
that those who violate the law do by such acts forfeit their rights to en- 
joy the privileges the law guarantees to those who obey its jirovisions. 
Thus, murderers, burglars, forgers, or any criminals who transgress the 
law, forfeit their rights under it, and are deprived of their liberties, or it 
may be of their lives, simply because they have done unpardonable violence 
to the law ; and any attorney who should set up the plea that his murdering 
or thieving client was having his legal rights interfered with by the gallows 
or the i^rison, would naturally deserve and gain the contempt of the com- 
munity. Violators of law forfeit their claims to the rights guaranteed to 
those who obey it. If such violators continued to enjoy the same privileges 
in society as those who never offend, there would be an end to all law, and 
ci\alization be extinguished. Force would take the place of order, and 
the weak yield to the strong. 

The distinguishing trait of civilization is, that the weakest member of 

the community is, in the eye of the law, strong as the strongest ; were it 

otherwise, there could be no civilization. The South, or those living in 

the Southern States, who have hy their relellion violated the Constitution^ 

2 



22 

lia-ce forfeited their claims to its protection^ and are now, in tlieir relation to 
the government, in the same position as that of a convicted criminal 
towards society— they have no legal or constitutional rights left them 
except the right of trial, and that trial is now going on from day to day 
in presence of the whole world, having Deity for the presiding Judge 
and humanity for the jury, and must be dealt with by government as the 
law and society deal with individual criminals. They must be punished 
for their transgressions, and as these have been greater than the trans- 
gressions of any single criminal, so the punishment to be awarded must 
be great in proportion, and the severest that can be inflicted is to de- 
prive them of that institution for the perpetuation of which, as their so- 
styled Vice-President declares, they began the rebellion. Hence we may 
assume that it will be right, proper, and efficacious to proclaim Emanci- 
pation throughout the rebellious States, and that such declaration will 
not, for the reasons above given, be any violation of the Constitution or 
any infringement of their legal rights. 

There are many who admit the efficacy of Emancipation, but who — 
timid and temporizing — invariably speak of it as a " last resort." And 
why last ? It is admitted that this rebellion is purely and solely the work 
of the slaveholders. It is also admitted that the government would be 
justified in proclaiming Emancipation '■'■as a last resort.'''' Allow me to ask 
what is meant l^y this " last resort f If it is meant that when the gov- 
ernment, backed uj) by the people of the loyal States, shall have tried by 
other means to crush this rebellion, and failing in all others, then, and not 
till then, Emancipation is to be proclaimed — if this is what is meant by a 
'' last resort,''"' allow me to suggest that it is a most " lame and impotent 
conclusion." Think. It is proi)osed to have government do all it can by 
its armies, by blockade, by non -intercourse, by stopping mails, by fines, 
by imprisonment, etc., and fiiiling with all these powerful aids to crush 
the most wicked rebellion that ever cursed humanity,*then Emancipation 
may be proclaimed. The proclamations of a government thus defeated 
in its attempts to maintain its existence by putting down such a rebellion, 
would not be worth the paper they were written on. Who icould respect 
them ? Not those whom its armies could not conquer ; not those whom 
its fines and imprisonment could not intimidate ; not those whom it 
would, by proclamation, liberate. Why ? Because a government thus weak, 
thus unable to maintain itself by enforcing its laws, would not have the 
power to make its proclamations respected. If such a proclamation is to be 
issued at all, now is the time, while the government is strong, or has the 
credit of being strong enough to make its proclamations respected. 



23 

Thus mucli for the scruples of the temporizers, and their willingness 
to use Emancipation as a " last resort." Let us now discuss a side-issue, 
and one that is often urged as an objection to Emancipation. I refer to 
the fear that a declaration of Emancipation would inaugurate a servile 
insurrection, and that a second act of the St. Domingo tragedy would be 
enacted in our Southern States. But why should the slaves join in in- 
surrection, and cut their masters' throats, in face of the fact ^ thai tlie govern- 
ment had proclaimed JEmancipation, and luoidd in self-defense enforce such 
proclamation hy its armies^ just as it does and must enforce all its other 
acts ? The government having proclaimed these slaves free, they then 
become men, would be no longer " chattels personal ;" and being men, 
would be entitled to the rights of citizens, and consequently to protection 
from government. In enforcing this protection, government might use 
these freed people themselves as instruments with which to execute its 
decrees, while at the same time this very use of them implies the ability of 
government to control them, and thus most effectually prevent all possibility of 
servile insurrections on the part of the blades, as it is now trying to do with 
the more dangerous insurrection of their white masters. The true and 
only way forever to prevent all slave insurrections is to have no slaves to 
rise. 

There were no unusual or improper excitements when Emancipation 
took effect in the British West Indies. There would lie none here. As 
the hour drew near that was to set thousands of human beings free, and 
transform them from mere chattels to human beings, every breath grew 
shorter, every pulse beat quicker, and every ear listened with intense 
eagerness to catch the first sound of that bell that was to proclaim 
"Liberty throughout all. the La.nd unto all the rNH.iBiTANTS 
THEREOF," and when its last echoes died away in the valley of those 
beautiful islands, there arose such a shout of joy as never before found 
vent from human lips. So would it be in our own South. Emancipation 
never begot insurrection. That is the natural offspring of Slavery. 

I have thus disi^osed of the Insurrectionary objections, and will now 
consider the conceded rights of loyal slaveholders in the rebellious States, 
for it is admitted that they have rights which should be respected. Let 
government laj^ a tax on the whole people of the Confederacy, loyal and 
rebellious, and collect it, when laid, at the point of the bayonet if neces- 
sary (and this, as a matter of pecuniary economy, would be better than 
to cari'y on a long war), and pay these loyal men for their slaves. Let 
the same be done with the border slave States, and thus Ijy purchase from 
good citizens and by confiscation from rebellious ones, would be estab- 
lished Univers.vl Emancipatiom throughout our United States. 



24 

I have thus argued the case up to the establishment of Emancipation. 
I will now consider its influence as a means of crushing the rebellion. Facts 
warrant the assumption, that this rebellion had its origin in, and is carried 
on for the sole purpose of extending and perpetuating slavery. All the 
orators of the South, all the leaders of their public opinion, take this 
position ; they even say that our present Constitution is good enough in 
every particular save one, and that one defect in that great document is, 
that it does not provide sufficiently for the extension, perpetuation, 
and protection of slavery, and therefore, as they have not at the present 
time the political power to alter that instrument (in accordance with its 
provisions) so as to suit it to their views, they resort to physical force, and 
cover their States with great armies, with the avowed determination of 
destroying this Constitution and the government founded on it, and thus 
making room for their own more perfect Slaver y-viahing, 'bondage-extend.ing 
document. This is their avowed object, patent to the world. Now, if we 
can, by any means proper to use, put an end to this institution, will not 
such act put an end to this wicked rebellion ? If we effectually extinguish 
slavery in the rel^ellious States, and proliibit its future introduction there, 
will v.'e not establish peace ? If cause precedes effect, we will most assuredly. 
The rebels must lay down their arms and submit to the laws when we 
have deprived them of the power (I assume that we have the power to 
enforce our proclamation, and if we have not, we are no longer a govern- 
ment) to continue the existence of their mstitution, and thus we shall see 
the positive influence of Emancipation as a means to crush the rebellion 
and establish peace. Let Emancipation be proclaimed, and down goes 
the Slaveholders' Rebellion. 

Having thus established the position that Emancipation will crush 
out the insurrection, I will now consider its effects on the whites of both 
sections, South as well as North. I assume that there is a certain amount 
of labor to be done in the Southern States, and that the freed negroes, 
from expeiience and acclimation, are the best qualified persons to perform 
that labor, and would be employed to do it under a system of wages 
(instead of the lash), prices being regulated l)y the laws of demand and 
supply. These negroes, being thus j)aid for theii- work, would consume 
more of the products of white men employed in the mechanic arts ; more 
especially those products not absolutely necessary to life, as cheap orna- 
ments, and those thousands of fancy articles that an uneducated people 
are so fond of, and which they always buy so freely in proportion to 
heir means. But, it may be said, this system of wages would enhance 
the cost of the products grown by the labor of these people, and this 



25 

increased cost would have to bebome by the consumers of these pro- 
ducts. 

If this were true, it would be owing to the fact, that these black peo- 
ple free would get more for their labor than black people in Ijondage ; 
and if this were so, then it v/ould follow, that the freeing of these people 
would have the effect of '■'■leveling vp" the price of labor to a point where 
the poor white men of those regions could afford to do it, a condition of 
things not heretofore existing in any slave State, the rule there being, 
that the planter, who owns 1)otli capital and labor, can afford to do work 
cheajjer than the poor white, who merely owns his labor, which he wishes 
to sell, and can find no market for, because he cannot work as cheap as 
the black slave of the capitalist. Hence it is, tliat there are so many of 
the "poor white trash" scattered all over the South. Emanciijation, 
according to this reasoning (originated by the opponents of Emanciia- 
tion), would benefit the poor white most decidedly. The increased 
demand by the freed blacks for the products of the whites, both South 
and North, would add greatly to the demand for the lalior of these 
whites, and thus Emancipation would benefit them i^ecuniarily, to say 
nothing of its removing the degradation now attached to labor in conse- 
quence of slavery. Where there are no slaves, laboring men are resi^ect- 
able and respected. Where slavery exists, the laborer is neither. The 
New England States illustrate the one condition, and the South the others 
But, say some, if you emancipate the negroes they will not work ; the 
stimulus of wages is not sufBcient to induce them to labor. Well, grant 
that they will not. Suppose they choose to drag out a miseraole, hand-to- 
mouth existence, as the poor whites of the South now do, and earn barely 
enough under the pressi;re of starvation to support life. What, then ? 
If they refuse to work as regularly and efficiently as heretofore, will not 
thei)' refusal make a demand for the labor of the foor whites of loth sections, 
and thus materially help to draw off from the great cities of the North the 
surplus labor, now vainly seeking employment, and thus greatly benefit tJiose 
laborers ? Such neglect to work by the freed negroes would have none 
other than a beneficial effect on the poor whites, hj giving them the work 
that the fi'ee blacks refuse to do ; but if the freed blacks go on and work 
industriously for wages, then their increased ability to consume would of 
necessity make an increased demand for the products of white men, now 
employed in the manufactures consumed by the blacks. Thus Emanci- 
pation, like all good deeds, would bring its own reward. 

I have thus endeavored to show that a proclamation of Emancipation 
would end the rebellion ; that its effects would be beneficial to the 



26 

whites, and if my arguments are sound, let the People, who make and 
unmake administrations, demand of the present Government an immediate 
Proclamation op Emancipation. 

[Tlie iibove article was written in August, just before the appearance of Fre- 
mont's Proclamation. Its appearance in an old conservative magazine like the 
Kniclverbockcr, caused considerable excitement amongst its readers, many of 
whom banished it from tlieir litnaries ; nevertheless, that particular number 
met a mucli larger b ile than usual.] 



\Tlie following appeared in tlie New Torlc daily papers^ in January^ 1862,] 
OBJECTIOXS TO THE PROPOSED STAMP TAX ON NEWS- 
PAPERS, MAGAZINES, AND OTHER PERIODICALS. 

I am ojjposed to this proposition in toto. It is bad in theory, and 
worse in practice. Why ? The present prices of newsj^apers, &c., will 
not admit of the proposed duty being paid by the publishers. If the tax 
is paid by them, its cost must be added to the price paid by the consumer. 
This must curtail their sale and circulation. This curtailment of sale in- 
jures all industries connected with the manufacture of the paper — such as 
papermakers, binders, engravers, printers, pressmen, inkmakers, express- 
men, &c. 

Government should do nothing to cripple the legitimate manufactures 
of its people. The proposed tax or stamp duty would thus cripple an 
important industry, besides requiring more capital to conduct the business 
than is now required. 

Why more capital ? The duty to be collected by stamping each copy 
or sheet published would require the printing of the stamp in some 
Government office, or under the supemsion of some Government official, 
'before the publisher could use it for printing his matter thereon ; and this 
requires an increased amount of uniirinted jaaper to be kept on hand. 
Again, the money for the stamp must be paid to the Government before 
the publisher sells and gets i:)ay for his joaper ; and this is another addition 
to the capital required for publishing papers, &c. This shuts men of 
limited means out of the business, by requking heavy capital to conduct it. 

Government should not, liy its legislation, discourage legitimate trade 
of any kind, by any system of special taxation that would require addi- 
tional capital to conduct such trade. The true interest of the people is 
best promoted by that sort of legislation that leaves the people free to en- 
gage in any and as many different callings as their inclinations jirompt and 



•27 

their caijital will admit. Onerous taxes on specified articles are sure to 
cripple such industries. The proposed stamp-tax is one of this kind, and 
ought never to Ise laid. 

Again, Government should do all in its power to promote the spread of 
intelligence and knowledge among its peoijle. Its own greatness is pro- 
moted thereby ; its own permanence is guaranteed by this course. The 
strength of the Government depends more on the intelligent minds of its 
people than on the muscles of their arms. Proof of this : The greatest 
number of papers, &c., read in America, are read in the Free States ; the 
fewest in the Slave States. The foraier are all loyal and true to the Govern- 
ment ; all of them responded with alacrity to the calls of the Executive for 
men and money. Nearly all of the latter are in rebellion against the Gov- 
ernment, and some of those few which are not, set up the plea of 
neutrality, or refused to furnish men for the Union until their own borders 
were invaded by rebel troops. Had there been as manylow-i^riced, large- 
ly circulated, well-conducted papers in the Slave States as in the Free, 
it would have Been impossible to have gotten up the present rebellion. 
Good government depends on intelligence. Despotism rests on ignorance. 
Any tax that adds to the price of paper, &c., containing intelligence for 
the people, restricts the spread of that intelligence, and that hm-ts the 
Government. 

A case in point : Government desires to inform its citizens of the pro- 
ceedings of Congress. Way ? That they may be the better able to know 
what their representatives and Executive are doing. To this end Con- 
gi'ess allows the Congressional GloJ>e to go through the mails everywhere 
free of postage. If the dissemination of the information contained in the 
GMk is of no benefit to the people, why let it go post free ? Eveiy j^er- 
son knows, and the Government through Congress admits, that this in- 
formation is of vital interest to all, and therefore Congress wisely allows 
all newspapers sent to publishers in exchange for others to jjass through 
the mails free of postage. Why ? The better to enable each jjublishcr 
to fill his paper with the greatest amount of information for the people. 
Congress acts wisely in this. Again, Congress is now discussing, or has 
passed a bill fixing the postage on public documents at two cents a 
pound, while the postage on other printed matter is sixteen cents a i)ound. 
Why this difference ? Because Congress considers that the dissemination 
of the information contained in those documents is important to the peo- 
ple. This is right. There should be no special tax on knowledge. 

If Congress wants to raise money by taxation, let it be done by a gen- 
eral and uniform tax on the entire property or capital of the country, of 



2S 

every kind and nature, and not on any particular industry that adds to 
that property and cajjital. 

Perhajis there is no country in the world that has so few j^ersons un- 
able to read, in proportion to the entire population, as our own, and this 
universal ability to read is traceable, in a great degree, to the cheaj^ness 
with which the ability to read can be made useful by means of an unre- 
stricted and cheap press ; for of what use would the art of reading be to 
the mass of poor peojjle if the price of books, papers, &c., &c., were be- 
yond their reach ? The productions of the low-priced periodical press 
have done as much to instruct the people as have our schools. In fact 
but for the cheapness of reading matter furnished by the periodical press 
much of the rudimentary learning taught in these schools would have 
been limited in its usefulness. The periodical press, being left free and 
unrestricted by governmental interference — free from all offensive taxa- 
tion, free as other branches of industry from special imposts — has reached 
a sphere of universal usefulness never before known, and to restrict that 
usefulness now by a stamp-tax, or impost duty on its production, is to set 
l>ack progress, and require the people to dispense with one of the most 
potent agencies for the dissemination of universal intelligence that their 
wants demanded or ingenuity could produce. A stamp-tax on newspa- 
pers and other periodicals destroys the power of this agency just in pro- 
l)ortion as that tax adds to the cost of the paper thus taxed by curtailing 
its sale. 

The great cheapness of the newsi^aper press of America has given it 
its enormous circulation. This unijaralleltd circulation has given it the 
very great influence it wields. This influence is caused by the j)rinciples 
inculcated, by the ideas discussed, by the information conveyed, by the 
vast amount of knowledge laid before the people through its columns. 
Any special tax or stamp duty laid on the press lessens this influence, 
retards the spread of intelligence, and injures the whole community. 

For example : Either one of our city dailies contains each morning a 
perfect epitome of the world's histoiy for the previous twenty-four hours. 
With this history go forth to millions of readers the thoughts, acts, prin- 
ciples, ideas of the world's great minds— beacons that light mankind 
along the stormy coasts of life. These pajjers contain enough to make a 
good sized volume, and are sold for the very low price of two cents (at 
most ) per copy. This comparatively low price gives them theii- enormous 
circulation by placing them within the reach of nearly the entire reading 
community. Had their price l)een greater they would never have ob- 
tained their present circulation. Their higher-priced predecessors never 



29 

circulated more hundreds than these now do thousands, and their col- 
umns were in their time as satisfactory to their jiatrons as are the columns 
of the present dailies to theirs. Nothing but the low price of the latter 
gave them their circulation, and nothing but the high price of the former 
caused their limited sale and final discontinuance. Connected with the 
vast circulation of the cheap j^ress are the interests of all who advertise 
other branches of trade in their columns. Many manufacturers have de- 
rived great benefits from the increased demand caused by theii- wares 
being made known to consumers by advertising. Any curtailment of 
circulation hurts these advertising manufacturers and tradesmen. Any 
tax or impost duty on newspapers advances the jn-ice thereof, and this 
curtails circulation. Every person i s benefited by a cheajj i^ress. Evei-y- 
body is injured by hampering it with onerous taxes. 

It is proposed to levy a quarter or half cent per copy on all newspapers 
published. Now, as I have before stated, the publishers cannot afibrd to 
pay either of these sums without increasing the price to the consumer ; 
and as we have no coin in circulation of less value than one cent, the price 
of the paper paying this tax must be advanced one full cent per copy, and 
this increased price will cause a very great curtailment in their sale ; in fact 
would kill off three-fourths of all the papers in the Union. An extra cent 
per copy may seem to be but a small matter to some persons, but it is 
quite enough to act as an eml^argo on the sales of newspapers. It is not 
only this one cent extra on one single paper, but it is multiplied by fifty- 
two in a year, if on a weekly, and three hundred and twelve times on a 
daily, a very serious matter to the purchaser whose means are limited, 
and quite sufficient to cause them to " stop the paper " in these hard 
times. 

Let the press be as free as possible. Let it be free from onerous taxa- 
tion, and left unfettered by special duties to do its just work. 

[This bill did not become a law.] 



[The following appeared in tfw New Torlc daily papers in January^ 1862.] 

THE EXPRESS SYSTEM. 
The following are the principal objections, forcibly stated, to Mr. Col- 
fax's new bill in relation to transporting newspapers outside of the mails. 
They are from the pen of Mr. Tousey, of the firm of Ross & Tousey, and suf- 
ficiently exjjose the errors in Mr. Colfax's imjjracticable scheme : 

"This bill makes it unlawful for any person to carry any newspapers 
over any post-route out of the mails. I object to this as interfering with 



30 

the purcliase and sale of merclianclise ])y restricting the free transportation 
thereof. Newspapers, magazines and other printed matter are as much 
articles of merchandise, as are drygoods, groceries, hardware or any other 
thing that enters into the consumption of the people, and should be sub- 
jected to no more hindrances in sale and transportation than they are. It 
is the duty of government to encourage the production and consumption 
of home manufactured articles, not to restrict such production, and if rev- 
enue be the object, let taxes be laid on the capital invested in and pro- 
duced by the profits of manufacturing, whether such profits are made 
from the production of hats, boots, clothing, or newspapers and Ijooks. 
The free and exi3editious system of transporting printed matter outside 
of the mails that is now in practice, is one of the most potent agents for 
the dissemination of knowledge among the peoi)le that has ever been de- 
vised, and is the result of long experience, prompted by the inability of 
the mail or post-office system to meet the emergencies of the case. From 
this system has grown the vast increase in the circulation of daily and 
weekly papers, magazines, &c., &c., and from this increased sale and cir- 
culation has grown a demand for a great amount of labor to produce the 
presses to print these papers, for the paper on which they are printed, the 
ink they are printed with, machinery for the manufacture of the paper, 
for the production of twine, for the use of carts, wagons, &c.; in fact, there 
is scarcely a branch of industry that has not been affected beneficially by 
the increased sale and circulation of printed matter outside of the mails ; 
and to interfere with these interests is to cause a great wrong to all con- 
cerned, with no benefit to the Department. The true duty of the govern- 
ment is to let the people devise their own modes of transportation of their 
merchandise, leaving them free, however, to use such facilities 
as government provides for transporting other matter, vvithout 
compelling them, under fine and j^enalty, to use such facilities. 
The government claims the right to manage the transportation of the 
icritten corres2)ondence of the country. This requires certain machinery. 
Now, if the people choose to send their printed matter through these 
channels, under such rules and at such prices as the government makes 
and demands, they should be left free to do so ; but to compel them to 
send all their newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals that way is 
an intert'erence with the rights of the people that cannot be justified on 
any ground whatever. If government thus intei'feres with the transjDor- 
tation of printed matter, it will be reasonable to expect it will next in- 
terfere Avith the transportation of all kinds of merchandise, and then fol. 
lows a long list of government oflicials for the enforcement of the rules 



31 

and collection of the tariifs demanded by the law, and from this restric- 
tion in transportation arises an increase of price ; this lessens production, 
and thus all branches of labor are aft'ected, and thus government itself is 
made the loser by the curtailment of wealth or capital on which to levy 
taxes. The interest of all, both people and government, is best promoted 
by leaving the people to take care of their own interests. A single illustra- 
tion of my position is all I will make at this time, and no one knows its 
truth better than ]\Ir. Colfax. It is this : The present rates of letter post- 
age, based on weight, has been and is the cause of an unheard-of increase 
in the manufacture of paper, envelopes, and the thousand branches of 
trade connected with their production, giving employment to thousands 
of persons, who, but foi this labor, would be seeking work in other 
branches, to the detriment of other workers. The present system of 
transporting printed matter outside of the mails has also given labor to 
thousands of persons, who, but for this, would now be crowding other 
and overstocked labor markets. The bill proposes the granting of licenses 
by the Postmaster-General. Now, if there is any one thing more than 
another that the peoj^le of this country detest, it is the license system. 
It is one of the most despised relics of a bygone system of governmental 
espionage that was always condemned by every people, and by none 
more than by our own. We have none too great a respect for the neces- 
sary and proper officers of the government, such as tax-gatherers, cus- 
toms officers, and the like, who have no license for special puiposes, or 
for private profit ; and when it is proposed to create a most odious mo- 
nopoly, as this bUl does, and then license special j)ersons to make a profit 
out of that monopoly, the system of license becomes utterly abhorrent, 
and must beget the most intense hatred of the system, and a determina- 
tion to evade its requirements. The true theory of government is to have 
as few laws as possil^le, and have those such as will command the respect 
and voluntary obedience of its people ; not to burden them with odious 
enactments that they will be sure to revolt against. No more hated offi- 
cer could be devised than one having a license to use a monopoly for his 
own selfish ends, and the license proposed in this bill is one of that class. 

Perhaps Mr. Colfax thinks that there would be no profit attached to 
the license. If there is no profit to and from it, then no one will take it, 
and no income will accrue to the department by its establishment ; and if 
no one can be found to take it, Mr. C. must do one of two things : Either 
he will restrict the transportation of printed matter to the mails, or he 
must appoint some person to superintend its transportation outside, and 
this involves an increased expenditure by the cleioartment ; in either case 



82 

an increased rate of transportation will ensue, which must cripple the sale 
of papers. But to come back to the license. Suppose a license to be 
given or sold to Jones, a news agent, authorizing him to transport printed 
matter outside of the mails between New York city and Boston, or any 
other points. 

Suppose, further, that Mr. Smith is a wholesale news dealer, residing 
in New York, and has a customer in New Haven, or any other city or vil- 
lage (on the line of Mr. Jones' licensed route), sent on the supplies with 
the same sort of paper that Mr. Jones is licensed to carry. Now, the cus- 
tomer of Smith must have his papers at the very earliest moment after the 
train arrives at his place, and if Jones, licensed by the Postmaster-General, 
can deliver his papers to him three, five, ten, or fifteen minutes sooner out- 
side of the mails than Smith's customer can get them through the mail, 
then Smith loses his trade, and Jones gets it. In the receipt and sale of 
newspapers time is everything to the seller, and minutes represent dollars. 
Again, if Smith, the wholesale dealer, is compelled to send his papers 
through the mails to his country customers, and Jones is permitted by his 
license to carry liis outside, he can, in nine cases out of ten, deliver the 
daily i^apers to his country customers when Smith's customer would get 
none, from the fact that the time that Smith occupies in getting his papers 
ready for the mail and the time used in getting them to the post-ofEce to 
be assorted and liagged, and the further time required to transport them 
from the post-office to the depot or boat for transportation, iajust so much 
time gained by Jones, the licentiate, to get ahead of Smith, who is just as 
active as Jones, and would never be behind him, but for being compelled 
to use the mails, while Jones is not. Let me explain this to those unac- 
quainted with the very peculiar nature of the business which this bill pro- 
poses to change. There are in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Bos- 
ton, and other cities, large establishments, whose business it is to take 
daily and other newspapers from the offices of publication, and pack all 
the different papers in one parcel that may be taken by a retailer living 
out of these cities. These parcels are all conveyed together to the place of 
shipment, and forwarded by express, or by some special person, whose 
business it is to see to their delivery at destination. Many of these par- 
cels are thrown from the trains while in motion — that is, thrown off at 
places where the trains do not stop. Now, it is of daily occurrence that 
but a lew minutes transpire between the time these papers are printed and 
the departure of the trains or boats — in fact, I have known but half an 
hour allowed for biinging in some twenty thousand papers, counting 
them out among some one hundred and fifty dift'erent parcels, tying up 
those parcels, and carting them nearly a mile to the place of shipment. 



33 

It is, therefore, easily seen that any hindrance or delay in getting 
these parcels ready for transportation must seriously affect all concerned, 
and more especially must that party be injured who is compelled to use the 
mails, while another party is allowed, under a license, to transport all his 
papers outside. A monopoly of this kind in the hands of a licentiate 
will virtually give that party the whole of the business on the line of his 
route. Perhaps Mr. Colfax may say that the paper must be printed at 
such hours as suits the departure of the mails. No ; Mr. C. will not say 
that, for he is a jjublishcr, and knows that the publishers of daily papers 
must, especially in these times, delay going to press till the very latest 
moment, in order to get the last item of news that is " clicked " over the 
wires. Perhaps Mr. Colfax will say that his licentiate will be compelled 
to carry jDarcels of papers for every person that desires to send. That 
does not appear in the bill ; in fact, the bill, in its spirit, will not allow of 
any such construction. It prohibits certain things except under license. 
That license implies certain privileges to be enjoyed by the licentiate. 
That implies, and in fact is, a monopoly, and that monopoly redounds to 
the advantage of the licentiate, who, in this case, can force every person 
to deal with him, or be behind-hand with articles whose only value 
depends on being up to time. Monopolies of this kind are the most 
odious and untenable of all. This system will enable an unscrupulous 
licentiate to refuse to transport whatever he pleases to prohibit. I may 
be told that the regulations to be established by the Postmaster-General 
will provide against all this. Then I protest against placing any such 
authority in his hands, for that oiRce may be filled by an unscrupulous 
partisan or bigoted sectarian, who could, under this bill, easily favor the 
periodicals he approved, and retard the distribution of those he disliked. 
We have already had too much of ofiicial tampering with the mails ; too 
much of official and uncontrolled censorship of newspaper transportation 
in the mails; too much of throwing out or entirely suppressing such 
papers as did not please the views of the local postmasters ; too much 
interference with the sale and circulation of northern i)apers in the South- 
ern States. True, these interferences and censorships have been illegal 
and sectional. Let them continue thus unlawful and sectional, and not 
attempt to make them lawful and national by vesting any unnecessary 
authority in the hands of any one — not even in the hands of a Postmaster- 
General or his licensed subordinates. The system is bad every way ; it 
has not one redeeming trait to recommend it. Let it be rejected. The 
only true i^lan for the Government to adopt in relation to the mails and 
mail routes is to make them free to be used by all on the same tenns. 



34: 

without licenses, and make them as secure from any violation as life itself, 
leaviny- the peo^jle at liberty to use them if they choose, or seek such other 
modes for transporting their printed matter as best suits them. Perhaps 
Mr. Colfax exjjects to increase the revenues of the Post-ofBce Depart- 
ment by compelling all printed matter to go in the mails or pay 
license for going over post routes outside. In this I think he will 
be mistaken as he must see that those transporting the mails will have to 
be paid largely increased prices for mail service, as those parties, railroads, 
steamboats, &c., now derive large incomes from the transportation of this 
matter outside of the mails, which income would be cut off by this bill, and a 
greatly increased amount of mail service required of them, which deficiency 
of income and increased service must be paid for by the Department. To 
this increased cost of mail service Mr. Colfax will have to add the cost of 
labels, stamps, the pay of agents or clerks to see to the whole matter, and 
the endless string of costly items attending the whole thing, so that when 
the balance is struck, but little, if anything, would acci'ue to his revenues 
— much less than the community would lose by the curtailed business of 
those interested in the manufacture, distribution and sale of the papers 
and magazines, and other periodicals Mr. Colfax proj)oses to tax by this 
bill. The scheme is not feasible, and should be abandoned. There is no 
more reason in thus taxing the transportation of newspapers consumed by 
people living away from the jDlaces of their publication, than there is for 
taxing the carriage of those consumed by people living in those places, 
and surely Mr. Colfax is not prepared to levy a tax on papers delivered by 
carriers to people living at or near the place of publication. If revenue 
is the aim, a be+ter way is to require publishers to pay a stamp duty or 
tax on every copy they publish, and when that tax or stamp is paid, then 
leave the buyer and consumer free to transport the paper in any way that 
best suits them. This plan, objectionable as it is to all our past history, 
abhorrent as it is to the spirit and genius of our institutions, is far prefer- 
able to the prohibitions and licensed monopolies proposed by this bill. 

In these times our people desire to know what is going on, and the 
success of our Government, and stability of our laws, and existence as a 
nation, is best promoted by disseminating as rapidly, as freely, and as 
cheaply as possible, all kinds of intelligence among them. The govern- 
ment itself is largely interested in this, more especially when it requires 
men or money. A largely circulated paper carries to the people all the 
requisitions of the Government for troops, informs them of its financial 
needs, and by this universal spread of information, it is enabled to have 
prompt and speedy resi^onses to its requirements. A crij)pled press crip- 



35 

pies the Government — a universally circulated press helps the Govern- 
ment, by informing the people of its wants. There should be no restric- 
tions placed in the way of the j^ress. Government should do all in its 
power to extend intelligence. Let this bill be " postponed indefinitely." 
[The bill referred to did not pass Congress.] 



CONFISCATION OF SLAVES— JUSTICE OR VINDICTIVENESS. 

To tlie editor of the New Yorlc Times : 

I clip the following extract from your columns of the Januai^ 24th, 
1863: 

" Another bill, authorizing the President to emancipate the slaves of rebel owners, was 
then discussed and tabled by a vote equally decided. It is evident the House hesitates to enter 
on this vindictive business." 

You claim to be a loyal man. I believe you are, yet the last sentence 
of the above extract might be construed otherwise. Let us see. The 
Government is at war for its existence. Its foes are its own children. 
Those children do all in their povf er to destroy their parent. They have, 
among others, one peculiar source of strength that enables them to place 
more men under arms against the Government than they could, but for 
this source. It is proposed to deprive these rebellious children of this 
source of strength and place it on the side of the Government, and you 
style this proposition " vindictive." It is a new idea that in war a 
measure tending to weaken your enemy is vindictive. War means de- 
struction. To der.troy your enemy is not vindictive. If he has a vulner- 
able point you are bound, in justice to those who fight your battles, to 
assail him in that point, and doing so is not vindictive. The labor per- 
formed by the slaves of the rebels would have to be performed by their 
soldiers if their slaves were taken from them. This would weaken them 
just so much. In the rebel States there are slaves sufiicient to do the 
work of as many white men as are now in the rebel army. Deprive these 
rebels of their slaves and you destroy their armies, either by forcing 
them to become working producers, or by starvation arising from non- 
production. Either way destroys your enemy, by lessening his strength. 
But, say you, the residents of the rebel States are not all rebels. Granted ; 
still, that does not affect the proposition which proposes to take only the 
slaves of rebels. But, you ask, how will we discriminate between the 
rebels and those who are loyal ? Thus : We will confiscate every 
slave in the reljellious States and invite them to come to our side. If it 
is found that in this general confiscation the slaves of really true and 



36 

loyal men have been made free, we will pay for their ransom at a reasoa- 
able rate. But, say you, this is an interference with the rights of the 
States, as slavery is a State institution, and not to be meddled with by 
the National or General Government. This might have been true to a 
certain extent tefore the rebellion, but as these States have, as States, re- 
belled against that General Government, they have by that act forfeited 
all the rights they had (as States) previous to such act, just as an individ- 
ual criminal forfeits his personal rights under the law by a violation of 
the law made for the protection of all. You may tell me that a general 
confiscation of the slaves would, notwithstanding my proposed ransom 
money, work injury to particular jjersons. Possibly ; so does the punish- 
ment of the individual work the injury of disgrace to his family and 
friends. Yet oui sympathy for such persons does not prevent us from 
meting out that justice required for the good of society. 

The few persons who might possibly be inconvenienced by a general con- 
fiscation of slaves stand to the entii-e Union as does the innocent members 
of a convict's family to the community. The misfortunes of neither, 
growing outof consanguinity or accident of locality, should weigh naught 
against the interests of the great whole. We desire to end the rebellion. 
Will a general confiscation of slaves do this ? Yes, for the reason given 
above. It will weaken the enemy. You say it is " vindictive." You do 
not say it is inefficacious — in fact you admit its efficacy in referring it to 
the President for use as a war power, to be used in his discretion. Will 
it not be as " vindictive " when used by him as " a war power," as if used 
by him as the Executive of a Congressional resolve or enactment ? If it 
will be efficacious when used by the President, why not let Congress re- 
quest or require him to use it ? Why spend three millions a day in pro- 
longing a war which, according to your o^vn showing, can be speedily 
ended ? You say it is " vindictive" to end the war by the means proposed. 
Our enemies shoot our pickets from ambuscades, and when we propose to 
weaken him by taking away his main source of strength, you tell us it is 
" vindictive." Our sons and brothers are killed by the poisoned meats and 
drugged drinks, yet when we propose a way to end the war, and bring 
them to their homes, you tell us it is " vindictive." 

These reljels bury our dead martyrs with their faces downward, look- 
ing toward that region to which their murderers will go, and when we 
propose to remove the living companions of these murdered ones beyond 
the reach of their barbarism, by depriving them of their great strength, 
we are told that it is " vindictive." 

The skulls of our brave boys are made into drinking cups by the very 
rebels whose slaves we propose to confiscate, and when we say deprive 



37 

them of tlie power to i^olifeii more skulls, we are accused of being " vin- 
dictive." 

Good men volunteering to upliold their country's flag, and pour out 
their blood like water in its defense, are Bull Run-ed and Ball's Bluff-ed 
to untimely graves, and when we suggest a mode of ending such whole- 
sale murdering, we are called " vindictive." 

Liberal citizens contribute freely to relieve the needs of families whose 
supporters are fighting our battles, and when we point a way to stop these 
drains on our charities, we are told we are " vindictive." 

When loyal men from Rebel States, like Polk, Mayxard, Brown- 
Low, and others, whose homes have been desolated, and their wives and 
daughters foully abused, call on us to adoj^t this remedy for their protection, 
we are told we are "vindictive." 

The slaves of these murdering rebels offer their services to our armies 
as guides, pilots and messengers, and when we propose to invite them to 
do more of this righteous work by an act of confiscation, we are met by 
the cry of vindictiveness. The only reliable information we have ever had 
of the rebels' condition has been furnished by the slaves of these rebels, 
and if we ask for more such help we are " vindictive." 

Had our Generals been less vindictive in returning these loyal black 
men to their white relsel masters, and more energetic in using the infor- 
mation they brought them, we should to-day be much nearer the end of 
the rebellion than we are. 

It seems to me, Mr. Editor, that you have used the wrong word — in- 
stead of vindictive say justice, and you will be right. 



STATE RIGHTS. 

{From the Continental Monthly, May, 1863.) 

The theory of State Rights, as expounded by its advocates in its 
application to the several States of the American Union, is subversive of 
all government, and calculated to destroy our political organization. Its 
tendency is to weaken the central government by minute divisions of the 
power necessary for its maintenance. Without power to make its author- 
ity respected, no government can live. The doctrine of State Sovereignty 
detracts from this authority by lessening the power wliich upholds it. 
Thirty-four States, each claiming exclusive authority to act independently 
on any given sulyect, have only one thirty-fourth jDart of the strength 
that they would have, were they all acting under and controlled by one 
3 



38 

central head. That central head in our Union is the Federal Government, 
formed by and growing out of the Constitution, and it must exist for the 
protection of each of its thirty-four members, as well as for itself, the con- 
necting power. Its acts must not be disi)uted by any one of the States or 
by any number of them acting in concert. If one or more States may defy 
the central authority, or attempt to withdraw from its government, any 
other State may do likewise, to the ruin of the political fabric erected at 
so much cost, and in its place would spring up scores of weak and unpro- 
tected communities. But, says the State rights advocate, this central 
power will have too much authority, too much control over the States i 
will become despotic, and in time destroy the liberties of the people. 
How ? By whom will those liberties be destroyed ? This central power, 
styled the Federal Government, is formed by the jjeople, is of the people, 
is for the people, and has only such power as the people gave it ; and thus be- 
ing of and from the people, it (or they) can not destroy its (or their) own lib- 
erties. Were our government hereditary instead of elective ; were our insti- 
tutions monarchical instead of republican ; had we privileged classes perpet- 
uated by primogeniture, there might be some danger of placing too much 
power in the hands of the Federal Government ; but formed as our institu- 
tions are, framed as our Constitution is, educated as our people are, there 
can be no fear of having the central power or general Federal Government 
too strong, or its authority supreme. Without strength there can be no au- 
thority ; without authority there can be no respect ; without respect there 
can be no government ; without government there can be no civilization. 
The doctrine of State rights, as applied to the communities fonning the 
American Union, elevates the State over the nation, demands that the 
Federal shall yield to the State laws, and completely ignores the suprem- 
acy of the united authority of the whole people. This theory, carried out 
logically, would make counties equal to States ; towns equal to counties ; 
wards and districts equal to towns ; neighborhoods equal to districts and 
wards ; and to come down to the last application of the principal, every 
one man in a neighborhood equal to the whole, in fact, superior, if the 
State rights doctrine be true, that the State is supreme within its own lim- 
its. The application of this principle ends society by destroying the order 
based on authority, and placing the State above the Nation, and the indi- 
^'idual aljove the State. Civilized societies are but the aggregation of per- 
sons coming or remaining together for mutual interest and protection. 
This mutual interest requires certain rules for the protection of the 
weak ti-om the encroachments of the strong in the society, as well as 
from outside enemies. These rules take the form of laws. These laws 



39 

must be administered ; their administration rcquii-es power. This pow- 
er is i)Iaced in the hands of certain members of this society, community, 
or State, as the case may be, for the good of the whole State, and each 
individual claiming protection from the State, or whose interest is promoted 
by being a member thereof, is imder moral as well as legal obligations to 
submit to this authority thus exercised by the chosen executors of the 
public will. Rights that might pertain to one man on an island l^y him- 
self, do not attach to man in ciWlized communities. There he must not 
go beyond the landmarks established by law, and he agrees to this ar- 
rangement by remaining in the State or community. The same principle 
is equally applicable to the States of the American Union. Before the 
adoption of the Federal Constitution they were separate, distinct, and so 
far as any central head or sujDreme governing power w^as concerned, inde- 
pendent States, or, in fact, sovereignties. True, they had tried to get 
along under a sort of confederation agreement, a kind of temporary alli- 
ance for offensive and defensive ends, but which failed from its own inhe- 
rent weakness, from the lack of that cohesiveness which nothing but cen 
tralization can give. Prior to the adoption of the Federal Constitution, 
these different States were like so many different individuals outside of any 
regular society ; were merely so many isolated aggregations of non-na- 
tionalized individuals. Experience showed them their unfortunate con- 
dition ; as separate States they had no strength to repel a common enemy, 
no credit, no money, no authority, commanded no respect. So it is with 
an individual outside of society. These States were then in the enjoyment 
— no, not in the enjoyment, but merely in possession — of State rights to 
the fullest extent. They had the right to be poor ; the right to be weak ; 
the right to get in debt ; the right to issue bills of credit, (was any one 
found who thought it right to take them ?) the right to wage war -ndth 
any of their neighbors ; the right to do any and all acts pertaining to an 
independent sovereignty ; but these rights were not all that the peoj^le of 
these States desired ; and after trying the independent and the confeder- 
ate State policy until experience had shown the utter fallacy of both, they 
met in convention and passed the present Constitution, and formed them- 
selves into One Nation. This Constitution, compact, copartnership, con- 
federation, combination, or whatever it may be called, was and is the 
written foundation (voluntarily made) on which the Nation is built and 
maintained. 

The charter, instrument, or Constitution, defines, by common consent 
and mutual agreement of the parties voluntarily forming it, the powers, 
rights, and duties of the National Government growing out of and based 



40 

on this Constitution. Among the powers thus delegated to the National 
or Federal Government, and to be used by the legislative authority there- 
of, are the following : 

" Article I. — Section 8. , 

" The Congress shall have power — 

" 1. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts 
and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United 
Stales ; but all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the 
United States. 

"2. To borrow money on the credit of the United States. 

" B. To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several 
States, and with the Indian tribes. 

" 4. To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform law? on 
the svibject of bankruptcies, throughout the United States. 

" o. To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and 
fix the standard of weights and measures. 

" 6. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and 
current coin of the United States. 

" 7. To establish post-offices and post-roads 

" 8. To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing, for 
limited times, to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respect- 
ive writings and discoveries. 

" 9. To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court. 

" 10. To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high 
seas, and offenses against the law of nations. 

"11. To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules 
concerning captures on land and water. 

" 12. To raise and support armies ; but no appropriation of money to that 
use shall be for a longer term than two years. 

" 13. To provide and maintain a navy. 

" 14. To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and 
naval forces. 

" 15. To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the 
Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions. 

" 16. To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and 
for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the 
United States, reserving to the States respectively the appointment of the 
ofiicers, and the authority of training the militia, according to the discipline 
prescribed by Congress. 

" 18. To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying 
into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this 
Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department 
or officer thereof." 

The first two words in this section — " the Congress " — completely annul 
the separate integrity of States. The Congress of what, and for what ? 
The Congress of the United States, acting for the United States, as a 
UNIT, a WHOLE, a UNION, The only allusion in this section to anything 



4L 

like a right existing in any State after the adoption of the Constitution, is 
the right to officer the militia, and these officers are to ' train ' the militia, 
under the direction of Congress^ and not under State laws — a clause which 
of itself strikes a decisive blow at the theory of independent State rights. 
In no one of these specifications is there a single allusion to any " State." 
Every j^ower enumeratedis given to the " United States," to the " Union" 
formed by virtue of the Constitution. Never was there a more perfect 
absorj^tion of atoms into one mass, than in these specifications ; but to 
make the princii)le still stronger, and as if to remove any doubt as to 
" State rights," the first clause of the Ninth Section of the same Article pro- 
hibits any State from importing certain persons after a given date, which, 
when it arrived (in 1808), Congress passed a national law stoj^ping the 
slave-trade — a trade that some of the States would have been glad to en- 
courage, or, at least, allow, if they had had authority to do so. This 
right was taken from them by the Constitution, in the year 1808 ; up to 
that time they had that right ; but after that date the right no longer ex- 
isted, and Congress passed the law referred to, in accordance with the 
power given them by this clause of the Constitution. 

But this First Article of Section Nine is not all in that section that 
smothers State rights ; for Article Five declares that vessels bound to or 
from one State need not enter, clear, or pay duties in another. "Why this 
specification, if tlie States were to be supreme in their own limits ? (and 
this doctrine of State rights is, in Jts essence, supremacy.) Independent 
States exact clearances and entrances, and demand duties from foreign 
vessels, but never from their own. State rights are ignored in this Arti- 
cle. But to prevent any possibility of any State ever exercising therigh': 
of sovereignty now claimed by the advocates of this most jiernicious doc- 
trine, from which has grown the present gigantic rebellion, Section Ten, 
of the same Article, goes on to declare that — 

"1. No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; 
grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; 
make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts ; 
pass any bill of attainder, ex ijost facto law, or law impairing the obliga- 
tion of contracts ; or grant any title of nobility. 

" 3. No State shall, vrithout the consent of Congress, lay any imposts 
or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary 
for executing its inspection laws ; and the net produce of all duties and 
imposts laid by any State on imports or exports, shall be for the use of 
the treasury of the United States; and all such laws shall be subject to 
the revision and control of the Congress. No State shall, without the con- 
sent of Congress, lay any duty on tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in 



time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact witli another State or 
with a foreign power, or engage in war." 

Language cannot be stronger ; intentions were never more clearly ex- 
pressed ; thoughts were never more explicitly set forth in words. Noth- 
ing is left for doubt ; all is concise, positive, and binding. Nothing is 
left to be guessed at ; nothing left that could be construed to mean that 
States " may " or ''may not." " Shall " and " shall not," are the words 
used to define what the States are to do or not to do. The very slight 
"right" given to the States to lay duties for executing their inspection 
laws, carries with it a proviso, or command, that the proceeds of such 
duties must be paid into the National Treasury, and the very laws that 
the States might pass for this purpose must be approved by " the Con- 
gress." What Congress ? The Congress of the United States — of the 
Union. Every vestige of State sovereignty, of " State rights," is utterly 
annihilated in these clauses. 

Independent sovereign States may, and do make treaties, alliances, 
grant letters of marque, or coin money ; in fact, no " State " or sovereignty 
can exist without these powers ; and the fact that these jDowers are all 
taken from and denied to the States of the American Union, is conclusive 
proof that the fi'amers of the Constitution did not intend to allow the 
States the sovereignty now claimed for them, and which the rebellious 
States are endeavoring to maintain. This heresy must be exorcised now 
and forever. 

Is there any thing more in the Constitution (and bear in mind that no 
right is claimed for any State except in accordance with this instrument, 
which is still in full force except in those rebellious States where this dis- 
organizing doctrine of" State rights" has uncontrolled sway) making the 
Union supreme and the States subordinate 2 What says the following 
section ? 

" Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public acts, 
records, and judicial proceedings of every other State. And the Congress 
may, by General laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, 
and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof." 

A State, therefore, may so legislate, that is, it may have acts and re- 
cords, but each other State shall give to the records and proceedings of 
all the rest " full faith and credit." Does not this enactment thoroughly 
negative all theories of the exclusive sujDremacy of State rights ? Inde- 
pendent sovereign States do not, in the absence of treaties, give any faith 



43 



or credit to the records or i^roceedings of other independent States. Our 
States are not only compelled to do this, by this section, but must do so 
in accordance with the manner prescriljcd by " the Congress " of the Uni- 
ted States, of the Union, and of the Nation. No other Congress is men- 
tioned. 



" Section 2. 

" The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and im- 
munities of citizens in the several States." 

By this clause a native or naturalized citizen of Maine can conduct 
business, hold and convey real estate (the highest civil, social, and judi- 
cial tests of citizenship) in the State of Georgia. The citizen of Minne- 
sota can do likewise in New York and so of each and in all the States. 
Independent States or sujireme sovereignties do not allow these privileges 
to any but their own citizens. The United States do not, neither do other 
nations. Citizenship must precede the right to hold and convey real es- 
tate. All governments are naturally jealous of the alien. By this clause, 
no American citizen can be an alien in any State of the American Union. 
He is a citizen of the nation. No State can pass any law demanding 
more of a citizen not born, though residing within its limits, than from 
one born therein, or jolace him under any restrictions not common to the 
native or other citizen of such State. Not a vestige of " State " exclusive- 
ness is there in the clause. Every idea of State supremacy is blotted out 
by it. A heavier blow is, however, dealt at State rights in the following 
section : 

" The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a re- 
publican form of government, and shall protect each of them against in- 
vasion, and, on application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when 
the Legislature can not be convened), against domestic violence." 

The greatest of all rights that an independent State can or may have 
is the right to adopt its own form of government ; but this clause com- 
pletely destroys such right on the part of any State of this Union to frame 
its own form of government. No State, forexamjale, can have a monarchi- 
cal government ; since the United States are to guarantee a repuUican 
foiTn : and no State can adopt an hereditary or theocratic government, 
because the United States are bound to give each State a republican 
government. In like manner we might run through all the fonus of gov- 
ernment that have ever blessed or cursed our race, without finding one 
Avhich can be adopted by any State of this Union, except the single form 



44 

of " reijublican," named in tlie Constitution. But can a State, bereft of the 
right to frame its o^\ti mode of government, be said to be possessed of 
" sovereign State rights," or could a more effectual provision against their 
development have been formed than this ? 

"This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be 
made in ijursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, 
under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the 
land ; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby ; anything in 
the Constitution or laws of any State to the contraiy notwithstanding. 

" The Senators and Representatives before-mentioned, and the members 
of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, 
both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by 
oath or affinnation to support this Constitution." 

This Constitution, these laws, these treaties, shall he the supreme late, 
no matter what " State" constitutions and " State" laws may declare. 
" Shall !" is the word, and there can be no doubt as to its meaning; Again, 
members of the State Legislatures, and all officers of the several States, 
" shall" be bound to support the " Constitution." Where are the " State 
rights " in these clauses ? Every State and every State official is made 
subordinate to and an executive of the acts of the "United States," and 
the United States constitutes a " nation.'''' This is the only word which 
meets our case. We are a nation, not a " tenant-at-vnll sort of con- 
federacy." 

The waters of the Bay of New York and the Hudson river flow en- 
tirely within the States of New York and New Jersey. One of the vested 
rights of an independent State, is that known as " eminent domain," or 
supreme ownership, implying control. Apply this doctrine of State rights 
in this case, or rather, allow it to be applied by the States named above, 
and they could prevent the navigation of these waters by any but their 
own citizens or those to whom they might grant that privilege. If this 
doctrine of State rights is sound, these two States would have the right 
to levy tolls or duties on every vessel that sails those waters, as the State 
of New York exacts tolls on her canals. Such power thus exercised, 
would cripple commerce, inconvenience the public, and utterly destroy all 
comity between the States. This exacting tolls for navigation of waters 
is one of the most offensive systems left us by past generations. It is 
so odious that modern governments decline to submit to it in cases where 
there is no doubt as to " State rights," as in that of the " Sound Dues " 
exacted Ijy Denmark. If, however, the State is supreme within its limits, 
it has a jicrfect right to exacts such tolls. But no State in this nation has 



45 

any such right under the Constitution. Its existence would destroy the 
Union by placing each State under the laws and exactions of either one 
of the others. The troubles growing out of such exactions would beget 
disinite ; these disputes would beget open strife, which would end in 
open rupture and the downfall of the National Union. 

The " United States," the " Union," the " Nation," are supreme. The 
States, as States^ are subordinate ; as " parts," they are inferior to the 
"whole." The " State rights" doctrine is wrong, disorganizing, destruct- 
ive of national life, and must be destroyed. 

Again, one grand evidence of a nation's or a people's civilization, is 
found in the correspondence, written and printed, conducted by the 
citizens. Barbarians have and need no correspondence. Civilization 
needs it, and can not exist without it. A migratory peoiDle like ours have 
more correspondence than older and less migratory nations. A citizen 
emigrating from Vermont to Illinois must correspond with the friends of 
his old home. The old friend in Vermont must know how the absent one 
" gets along in the world." To conduct this correspondence, the postal 
or mail service was devised. Before its existence the communication be- 
tween separated friends and business people was uncertain, irregular, and 
mere matter of chance, to be conveyed by stray travelers, or not inter- 
changed at all. The necessities of civilization brought the postal or mail 
service into action. To conduct this service over a nation, requires the 
right of i^assage through the entire limits of the nation. This right, to 
be available, must have power to enforce its own requirements. It must 
be central^ controling, supreme. Without these, there would he no 
safety, no system, no uniformity, no regularity. To insure these to all the 
people of the States, the Constitution has wisely jjlaced these jDowers in 
" THE Congress" of the Union, of the " Nation." In accordance vnih. 
the powers thus vested in Congress, our present jjostal or mail service has 
been created. No State has a right to interfere with the transportation 
of the national mails. " The United States Mail," is the term used. 
If any State had a right to establish a mail within its own limits, it would 
also have the right to prohibit or curtail the transportation of other 
States' mail through its limits. This right would destroy the entire 
system, and break up the interchange of correspondence so essential to 
our civilization. If the States had any such right, they could affix dis- 
criminating tariffs on the correspondence of other States passing through 
them. The State of New York, could, if this right existed, make the 
letters sent over its roads by the people of Massachusetts to the people 
of Ohio, pay just such tariffs for the "I'ight of passage " as it might 



46 

choose. The absurdity and utter unreasonableness of this claimed right 
is so apparent as to need no argument against it. 

The exercise of this pretended right by the Southern States has caused 
the present rebellion. But for this doctrine we should not be expending 
over a million a day in supporting six hundred thousand men in camp, 
who ought to be producers of life instead of missionaries of death. This 
war is the legitimate result of this hersey of " State rights." If this 
doctrine had never l)een put in practice, we should not now have slavery 
to curse us with its degrading, inhumanizing influences. Slavery exists 
in violation of the Constitution. Slavery was never established by that 
document. The States violated it in their attempts at legalizing it. All 
their laws declaring that the status of the child must be that of the mother, 
are but so many " BHiLS of attainder," working " corrcftion of blood ;" 
and every State, as well as Congress itself, was, and is positively prohibited 
by the Constitution from passing any such bill or law ; and should we 
ever succeed in having any but a pro-slavery, slave-catching Supreme Court* 
all these laws will be annulled by their own unconstitutionality. True, 
there were slaves at the time the Constitution was adopted, but all then 
living are now dead; and but for this doctrirre of " State rights," there 
never would have been any State law making the child of a slave mother 
also a slave; but for this doctrine, no such bill of attainder would have 
been passed, or if passed, it never could have been enforced ; and we 
should not to-day be listening to the cries of four millions of slaves, nor 
have the homes of thousands of honest citizens made desolate by the ab- 
sence of loved ones. But for this terrible doctrine, " the click of hammers 
closing rivets up," would not now be giving " dreadful note of prepara- 
tion." But for this heresy, subversive of all law, of all order, of all 
nationality, we should not to-day be at war for our existence. But for 
this doctrine, and the right claimed by some of the States to extend their 
" bills of attainder," working corruption of blood over the entire Union, 
we should not have our homes filled with grief and our streets covered 
with the funeral pageants of brave men killed in defense of the Union. 
"We want no more evidence of the accursed doctrine of " State rights." 
We are a Union— a Nation. We must have National Laws, National 
Institutions, National Freedom. We have had too much of State 
law, too much of State rights, too much of State slavery. The Nation 
MUST BE suPKEiiE. The States must be subordinate. As we uphold and 
jierpetuate the national authority, so will be our existence as a people. 
As we detract from this, so will be our weakness and downfall. 
God preserve the Nation ! 



47 

REPUBLICAN CENTRAL COJOIITTEE. 

The following preamble and resolutions, introduced by Mr. Tousey, 
were unanimously passed by the Republican Central Committee, at its 
regular meeting, on Wednesday evening, July 9 : 

Whereas^ The condition of our country renders it the duty of all good 
men to stand l)y the Government in its eflbrts to crush rebellion ; there- 
fore, be it 

Besohed, That this Central Committee of the Republican party of the 
city and county of New York, as a whole, and each member thereof for 
himself individually, pledges the Committee to aid the Administration in 
its efforts to suppress the rebellion ; and be it further 

Eesohed, That this Committee views with utter abhorrence the attempt 
of Northern traitors to aid the rebels by efforts to divide the people of 
the loyal States, and that any party, or any man, who attempts, in these 
perilous times, to attract attention from, and divide the odium justly fixed 
on, rebels in arms, is as much a traitor to the Union as those in arms for 
its destruction. 

Resolved^ That the Government ought, in this hour of necessity, to 
avail itself of all the means within its reach, inviting and accepting the 
aid of every person willing and able to serve his country. 

Mw Yorli Tribune, July 10, 18G2. 



THE STANTON ORDER. 

We publish the following from an esteemed citizen, with the simple 
remark, that he has misconceived the tenor and spirit of the article to 
which he refers. We offer no objection to the adoption of adequate mea- 
sures to prevent " skedaddlers " from their duty from escaping the neces- 
sary burdens of war; but do object to the promulgation of an order 
which, in its sweeping terms and stringency, will leave the false impres- 
sion on the mind of every foreigner that the peo2)le of the United States 
generally are cowards or traitors. This inevitable inference will give " aid 
and comfort " to our revilers abroad and to our foes in the South, who 
will naturally conclude that the indifference or hostility of the people of 
the North to the war is so deep and wide-sj^read as to require the most 
stringent and sweeping measures of the Government to keep them up to 
their duty. The rebels will take comfort accordingly, just as we did 
when we found that they were obliged to impress their soldiers : 



4S 

" Editor Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper : 

" I protest against the spirit of your leader in your issue of last week. 
That article is calculated to give ' aid and comfort ' to the enemies of 
the Government at home and among the rebels. The order of the Sec- 
retary of War, which you denounce so strongly, manifests more of a 
spirit of determination in the right direction than anything that has 
been done in Washington for a year. We are blockading the enemy's 
coasts. For what ? To keep out such things as they need : as muni- 
tions of war, men, and information. The great complaint among loyal 
men has 1)een, that the Government has been too lax in its efforts to re- 
strain information from reaching the rebels. The present order of non- 
intercourse will help to keep back tliis information, as well as to prevent 
men from escaping from military duty ; in fact, it will act as an ' inter- 
nal laud Ijlockade.' Heretofore the symjiathizers with the rebels could 
go and come as they chose ; now they can not, and thus a great good 
will be accomplished. No truly loyal man, desiring to aid the Govern- 
ment and do his duty, will be prevented from going and coming as his 
business may require. This order will affect none but those whose ex- 
istence and actions demanded its enforcement. I am glad it has been 
issued. Suppose you are jDut to the trouble of getting a passport ? If 
the system will produce the result intended, you and all other good 
citizens can well afford to help it on. I am glad that order was issued. 
I am also pleased with the other order preventing secession-advocating, 
re])el-sympathizing, enlistment-retarding brawlers from spouting their 
treasonable doctrines in the Loyal States. Don't find any more fault 
Tnth such orders." — Leslie'' s Illustrated Paj^er, August 30, 1862. 



AN EAENEST VOICE. 
(From the Boston Banner of Light.) 
There are comparatively few men engaged in commercial pursuits, 
and daily occupied by the cares of business, who have much to do with 
the commerce of ideas, or can find leisure for a critical observation of " the 
signs of the times." There are, however, occasional exceptions, and Mr. 
Sinclair Tousey (firm of Ross & Tousey, the great news agents of New 
York) is conspicuous among them. Notwithstanding the protracted 
in(lis])osition of his partner —which has long rendered him incapable of 
giving his personal attention to business — Mr. Tousey finds time to ob- 
serve the progress of events, and to write occasionally for the daily press 
and the magazines. Some time since, he contributed a paper to the 
Kniclierloclcer, on " Emancipation," which stirred the slow blood of its 



49 

conservative readers, and excited some discussion ia the papers. Mr. 
Tousey is a gentleman of great frankness, and, when he has anything to 
say, is accustomed to S2)eak out loud, without the slightest regard to lati- 
tudinal considerations, or the velvet-slippered servants of the Van Win- 
kle family. We are bound to respect every man who respects the rights 
and interests of all men. Mr. Tousey api^ears to be such a man who dares 
to strike at Wrong, whether it be concealed beneath the mitre or behind 
a throne. 

From a late issue of tlie New Yov^Baili/ Timefi,we extract the follow- 
ing earnest and unstudied exhortation to the freemen of the North : 

NORTHMEN, TAKE COURAGE. 

The world moves. The Star of Freedom is rising higher and higher, 
to be eclipsed only by the more glorious rays of the Sun of Universal 
Liberty, whose bright light will soon illuminate our whole jjolitical 
hemisphere. The civilization of Freedom is crushing out the great 
barbarism of Slavery. The moral atmosphere is being purified by the 
storms of agitation. As tides keep oceans pure, so do great thoughts 
and just principles purify the political and social pools of human stag- 
nation, human wrongs. From the far-off shores of the Pacific (significant 
of peace) come great tornadoes of pure air. From the North, land of snow 
and ice (emblematic of purity and strength), come great torrents of clear 
^waters. These western winds and northern waters are sweeping down 
toward th-) Gulf, in one grand, sublime cm-rent of onward power for 
good, for Freedom, for civilization. 

Northmen, be hopeful. With your hopes blend watchfulness. Truer 
to-day than ever before is it that '■'■eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.'''' 
The homes of Freedom must be guarded by the " watch-fires that never 
go out." The West, North and Northwest winds and waters liave car- 
ried traitorous Senators from the " inner chamber," have borne luke- 
warm, rebel-sympathizing Generals from command ; have swept imperious, 
spying correspondents into prison ; have carried contumacious witnesses 
into congressional lock-ups. Northmen ! see that these movements go on. 
Put the broad shoulders of honest workers to the car-wheels now rolling 
on to Freedom. Let the hard hands that " break " the strong greenswards 
of the Western prairies grow harder in " breaking " the yoke of the bond- 
man. Let the East men and the West men and the North men join 
hand in hand in rolling on the chariot-wheels of American liberty, till 
our Flag shall in truth wave over "the land of the free," undmimed by 
the presence of a single slave. Northmen ! be workers, be agitators ; be 



50 

to tlie moral atmosphere what the winds are to the natural. Let your 
commotions purify. Discuss, educate, enlighten. Be missionaries of liberty; 
be apostles of freedom ; be the flag-bearers of civilization. Encourage 
your Congressional representatives in their deeds for freedom ; censure 
them if they falter. Be bold for the right ; be cowardly only in wrong. 
Be strong for justice ; be weak only when unjust. Demand justice for 
all ; allow injustice to none. Let your motto be " one freedom, one country, 
one flag, one peoiDle," knowing no distinction but that of merit. Be 
thankful for the past, trustful of the present, hope and watch for the 
future ; and as you act in this great crisis, so will be your lot in the 
time that is coming. 

[The above was published about the time that Mr. Bright, a Senator 
in Congress from the State of Indiana, was expelled from the Senate for 
sympathy with the great Southern Rebellion of 18G1. About the same 
time two or three very prominent correspondents of the New York 
Herald were locked up for jjrying into government secrets and having too 
much sympathy with the rebels. It is to these that allusions are made 
in the above article.] Winter of 18G1 — 63 



{Fiwn the New Yorl Ledger, May 24, 1862.) 
GALLOWS CANDIDATES. 

To the Editor of tlie Neic YorTc Ledger : 

Loyal men believe that the leaders of the present diabolical rebellion 
should be hanged. Justice will be satisfied with nothing less, nay, she 
demands more. Justice, in the old mythology, is rejjresented with ban- 
daged eyes. The Justice of our day has her eyes -wwcovered. She sees that 
the foes of the Union are not all in the ranks of the rebels. She finds our 
worst enemies in our own camps, in our own high places, and she 
demands their lives as a partial expiation of the outrageous wickedness 
peq:)etrated by the worst scoundrels that ever cursed a country or dis- 
graced humanity. She demands that those wingless human vamjjyres 
called "Contractors," who are fattening on a nation's blood, and 
rioting in the wealth wrung from the very vitals of an afflicted people, 
should be hanged on a gallows higher that any ever dreamed of by 
ancient or modern Hamans. Justice demands tliis at the hands of her 
officers, and the honest public second the demand. 

The preservation of the Union required men. Mothers sent forth their 
sons to " do and die " in its defense ; wives sent their husbands, sisters 
their brothers ; fathers marched side by side with their " only sons," all 



51 



animated l)y tlie purest motives that ever promiDted a human deed. The 
country poured forth its treasures as freely as the torrents that flow down 
its mighty streams in spring time. But with and about these glorious 
sacrifices, these magnificent treasures, lurked a thousand ghouls, a thou- 
sand were-wolves ready to pounce on and suck dry the blood of our 
brave men, and greedily plunder the National Treasury. Men volunteering 
to fight the battles of the country have been barbarously killed i^iecemeal 
by the poisonous food supplied by rai)acious contractors. Good men, 
used to home comforts, ready to lay do-mi their lives in battle, have been 
maimed by frost, bitten by the cold — aye, frozen — actually frozen from 
lack of the decent clothing for which the Government had paid these 
Robber Contkactors. Are they not " Gallows Candidates ?" It makes 
the brain reel and the nerves tremble, to reflect on these most infernal 
wrongs, wreaked on our brave men by such Ishmaelites. Let tliemi le hanged. 
Some of those men have by a " commission on purchases " for the Govern- 
ment, made as much money in one day as paid to a whole regiment of 
honest men in the ranks, the meanest one of whom is a king to the best 
of these plundering " brothers-in-law contractors." Congress fixes the pay 
of the soldier, why not of the contractor ? The soldier Jights for the country. 
The contractor robs for himself Let him le hanged. Congress is about to 
lay a heavy tax on the people. The people are willing to be taxed, but 
they are not willing to be robbed by s^vindling contractors, and taxed to 
pay the robbers. Let Congress lay a heavy hand, yes, a heavy "fist" 
on the throats of these money-getting rascals. Let them be hanged, no 
matter if they be " brothers-in-law " of cabinet officers. The higher the 
loosition of the offender, the higher ought his gallows to be, and the more 
prompt his punishment. 



THE NEW YORK TIMES ON GOVERNOR ANDREW. 

To the Editor of the New Torh Tribune : 

Sir— The If. Y. Times pretends to be a loyal paper, yet in its issue of 
the 14th it manifests the same spirit that conducts the concession and other 
rebel-sympathizing sheets. It inserts Governor Andrew's order for en- 
rolling the fighting men of his State, and gives that order with an edito- 
rial notice that must delight the souls (if they have any), of all King 
JeflT's subjects. 

The Times hates Governor Andrew, and all who, like him, believe in 
human freedom. It pretends to the contrary ; but the most of its articles. 



52 

that lean cither way, lean toward slavery, or toward that line of policy 
that conserves the " institution." Governor Andrew is a representative 
man. He is the head of a representative State. His people and himself 
are full of positive loyalty — not that sort of loyalty that fills the columns 
of The Times, and which is any thing by turns and nothing long, except 
in the length of its " trimming" propensities. 

If there is one Governor of the loyal States whom the rebels and their 
Northern sympathizers would like to hang first, that Governor is he of 
Massachusetts, and The Times, true to its instincts of hate to the negro, is 
encouraging that spirit. It ill becomes any loyal press to try to make 
Massachusetts or her Governor odious to the people of other States. Her 
record in this rebellion is too pure ; her citizens too patriotic ; her 
Governor too energetic for the right. 

The Times will fail to set the Federal Government against the old 
Commonwealth. It says : " the question of employing blacks in a military 
cajDacity is one for the National Government to decide." It forgets (in- 
tentionally ?) that the Government only represents the people in this, as 
in all other matters, and when they demand that the blacks shall help 
to maintain the Government that protects them in person and property, 
it (the Government) Tvill enforce that demand, and surely there can be no 
better way to leani the people's wants than by their Governors' action, 
especially when the people respond to their Governors as they do in 
Massachusetts. 

Ths Times had no censure for Governor Sjirague for the same act (in 

spirit). Why ? Governor S is not identified with the anti-slaveiy 

idea of the North. Governor A is. That is enough to arouse the ire 

of that paper. It will not do, Mr. Times. The great ball is rolling on, 
and if you do not get out of its way it will roll over you and all like 
you. — N. T. Tribune, August 16, 18G2. 



NORTHERN TRAITORS. 

To the Editor of The New YorTc Trihine: 

Sir — Armed rebellion at the South receives the armed attention of 
the Government. Unarmed treason at the North should receive the un- 
armed but none the less summary attention of that same Government. 
We are in a great rebellion. The existence of your national Government 
is in imminent danger. Treason has armed hundreds of thousands for 
its destruction. These armed traitors are all in one section of our coun- 



53 

try. Another section is in arms for its defense. In this latter section 
there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, whose political antecedents and 
desire for the trade of the rebellious section brought them to sympathize 
with that section, not daring to subject themselves to tlia penalties of 
offended law, or to the bitter contemi)t of their fellow-citizens, by open 
and avowed acts against their Governments, yet being determined to do all 
they can with personal safety, coward-like, and with diabolical malice, 
resort to the apparently more safe and just as efficacious mode of aiding 
the rebellion, by attempts at dividing the North against itself; and hence 
the traitorous cry of " Hung abolitionists and secessionists together." 
The odium that should centre on and burn deep into the hearts of armed 
rebels, these peace-preaching Judases try to divide, and place on a great 
portion of law-abiding, Government-upholding citizens, by demagogue 
howls and grog-shoi)-party-catch-words, that appeal to the baser passions 
and lower prejudices of the lowest of the discontented scum that curses 
society with its presence. These ever-galvanized corpses of a once great 
political organization know, from past experience, the power of union and 
the weakness of disunion, and, fearing that the unity of the North will 
speedily and thoroughly crush the most infernal rebellion that ever out- 
raged a nation or disgraced mankind, coolly and deliberately set about 
dividing the low people of the North by any and every means within 
their reach. To divide the North is to weaken the North. To weaken 
the North is to strengthen the rebellious South. These northern traitors 
desire to aid the rebellion, and hence their effort to create dissension among 
us of the loyal North. Any party, or any man, be he a city mayor out of 
office or a renegade editor in full feather, that attempts, by word or 
deed, to render any part of the people of the loyal North odious to any 
other part of that people, is a traitor at heart, and the love of his country 
is not in him or in that party. Loyal men should shun all such as moral 
lepers, whose touch brings death, and whose very breath breeds pesti- 
lence. Governments should mark them. State and civil authorities 
should proscribe them. Officers of the law should convict them. Courts 
should punish them as promoters of disorder. Whosoever is not for the 
Government is against it. These traitorous dissensionists of the North 
are not for the Government. They had rather see the Union destroyed 
than to see it saved, if its salvation caused them the loss of party in- 
fluence. With these men, party is all ; union, government, country, are 
naught. Hence their attacks on the personnel of the administration. 
They intend to make the jjresent government of the people odious in the 
sight of the peojjle, thus Aveaken it, thus cripple its powers, thus help 
4 



54 

tlie rebellion, hoiiing, in tlie confusion of divisions thus created among 
us, to ride into power, and then hastily patch up a speedy and dishonor- 
able peace, at the cost of the loyal States and to the disgrace of the 
nation. 

Peace-preaching, dissension-creating treason is as dangerous as treason 
in arms. Beware of it ! Strangle it ! Treason in this form attacks 
cabinet ministers while lauding the President. Why ? It desires to 
weaken the Government, and not daring to openly attack the jjeople's 
chosen head, it covertly stabs the President through the bodies of his 
recognized advisers. This kind of treason hoiDes and aims to tie the 
hands of the Government by flilse accusations and intolerable abuse of 
particular members of the National Administration ; thus weaken it, and 
by this hoped-for weakness, aid the rebels. No good citizen will depre- 
ciate the efforts of the Government, nor of its authorized officials, in this 
trying time. When men are talked of for position, it is proper to discuss 
their merits. While a proposed measure is not yet decided on, discus- 
sion is proper, but when men are in place and do their best, and when a 
plan has been decided on, let discussion end and action begin. The 
unity of the people of the loyal States is their salvation. Their diversion 
is their death. 

New Tori:, July 13, 1863. 



JUDGE DALY AT THE NEW-ENGLAND DINNER. 

To tie Editor of The New Yorlc Tribune : 

Sir — Foreigners have said that the American Judiciary does not com- 
mand the respect due to the bench. That it is so is not surprising, when 
it is remembered how little some of our Judges respect themselves or 
others. 

I am led to. this thought by reading your report of Judge Daly's speech 
at the New England dinner. Here is a learned Judge, rejjresenting a 
society Ayliose existence is fostered by our institutions — a Judge repre- 
senting a people whom our laws have made, civilly and politically, equal 
to any of our citizens — here is this Judge, at a public dinner, at a time 
when the country that shelters his iDeoj)le is bleeding at every pore, when 
death stalks abroad at noon-day and rests not at night, when every 
household is drajDcd in mourning, and grief sits in the market-place — 
here is this Judge, at such a time and under such circumstances, facetiously 
comparing our l)one-covered battle-fields to a sportsman's cock-pit, and 
the legitimate Government of the Union to a '■'■game-cock'''' fighting out of 



55 

pure obstinacy ! Not a word of condemnation for the rcl)cls, wlio cvv 
murdering our sons and widowing our daughters — not a word of rebuke 
to their aiders and abettors at home and abroad — not a word of encourage- 
ment for those who are laying down their lives and expending their 
fortunes for the maintenance of that flag under whose folds this Judge's 
countrj^men find asylum — not one word for the integrity of the Union — 
not one word for the supremacy of law over insurrection — not one word 
to show that he considers the rebels less justifiable in their work of death 
than the Government of the Union in its work of preserving the life of the 
nation; but, on the contrary, every word he utters, every idea he advances, 
serves to place the rebels on a par with the National Government. He 
jocosely styles both "game-cocks." A calm observer would say that the 
Judge had as much symjJathy for one side as the other; in fact, one 
might almost say that he was "« little more so" for the one side, and 
that side not of the Union. Is it surjjrising that the American Judiciary 
is not respected ? Other speeches of this Judge, on other occasions during 
the rebellion, have shown the same drift, and have jjassed unnoticed. 
I think it time to rebuke him.— iV. T. Tribune, Dec. 24, 18G2. 



DEMOCRATIC HOWLINGS. 

Everybody not stone blind knows that there is a fixed determination 
on the part of the leaders of the democratic party to break down the 
administration and if possible thwart it in its efforts to crush the rebel- 
lion. The late charge of Recorder Hoffuian is a part of the plan, which, 
if successfully inaugurated in this city, is to be universally adopted 
throughout the North. The democratic party is not yet ready to assume 
a position of forcible or armed ojjposition to the Federal Government 
(though it is surely drifting that way), but being bent on destroying the 
present constitutional authorities, that party is endeavoring by its jiarti- 
san judges, by its traitorous orators, by its lying presses, to make the 
national administration odious with the people, and thus influence them 
to withhold men and money for the prosecution of the war for the Union. 
Is the disloyalty of the democratic party questioned ? That party has 
learned from the ballot-box during the past ten years that the anti- 
slavery sentiment of the free States is growing much faster than the pro- 
slavery sentiment of those States, and that without the votes of their 
slave-breeding, women-whipping, baby-selling democratic compeers in 



56 

the now rebellious States, they, the northern democrats, can never again 
hoi)e to get control of the National Government. Hence their attempts 
to destroy the present administration by their bowlings about " illegal 
arrests," " violation of personal rights," the " guarantees of the consti- 
tution," the " sacredness of the citizen," and so on, ad nauseaum. The 
democratic leaders, who drive the party in the North as their southern 
colleagues drive their slaves, knowing that our people are jealous of their 
rights, think and intend by these bowlings to arouse indignation against 
the Government, and thus destroy its power, and compel it to end the 
war on such terms as will suit the democratic rebels of the South — when 
these northern leaders of the once more united national democracy hope 
to reinstate themselves in Union offices, and again bow the nation down 
to that political god of modern democracy, negro slavery. This is the 
programme, and Eecorder Hoffman and all other jDartisan judges like 
him and Judge Daly, are but doing the dirty work of secession in mak- 
ing grand jury charges and dinner speeches that serve to render the 
Government unjjopular. — Trihme, December, 1863. 



A JUST REBUKE. 

{From the NeiD Yorl: Tribune) 

A number of men, of whom the public generally seem to know very 
little, are now going the rounds of the city and seeking to depreciate 
United States Treasury notes (greenbacks) by the purchase at a premium 
of two and one-half to three per cent, of our city bank bills. Who those 
persons are, or where they came from, or with whom they are di- 
rectly connected — whether with northern banks or northern secessionists — 
nobody in particular seems to know, but there is no disputing the fact 
that they are so engaged in attempting to destroy public confidence in 
the Government. A case of the kind came to our knowledge yesterday. 
A well-dressed man, who for years has followed the business of buying up 
and furnishing small change to numerous store-kceiiers about the city, 
entered the store of Messrs. Ross «fc Tousey, and offered to purchase all 
the city bank-notes they had at two and one-half per cent, premium. 
Ti'Ir. Tousey, who was sitting in his office, attracted by the man's conver- 
sation with the clerk, came out and inquired his business, whereupon the 
j^erson repeated his proposition to buy up all the city bank-notes they 
had in the store. Upon being asked the object, he commenced abusing 



57 

the administration, cliaracterizing it as a rotton abolition conceru, and 
sought by every means in his power to depreciate the Government notes, 
pronouncing them as next to worthless. Mr. Tousey interrupted him in 
the midst of his tii-ade of abuse of the Government, telling him plainly 
that he was a true republican, and that he believed it the duty of eveiy 
man to earnestly sujjport the administration, no matter what might be 
his politics. He wanted no secessionists or secession symijathizers in \m 
store, and concluded by informing the man that he would give him just 
one minute to leave the place ; and that if he didn't go by that time he 
would put him out. Furthermore, he never wanted him to show his 
face in the store again, on any pretext whatever. Secesh, deeming dis- 
cretion the better part of valor, hurried out into the street. 



RAILROADS AND BLACKS. 

To the Editor of The New TorJc Tnlnme : 

Sir — I must fully indorse all you have said about the mean develop- 
ment of oppression just adopted by the Eighth Avenue Railroad. I will 
aid you in invoking legislative aid to correct that outrageous abuse just 
jjlaced on colored people by that soulless company. Go ahead in that good 
work. I am credibly informed that the Superintendent, Col. ]May, is 
an officer of the regular United States Army^ note on quite a lengthy furlough 
drawing pay from the Government for services not rendered, and is now 
violating the spirit if not the letter of the orders of the War OfBce concern- 
ing colored persons. It is shameful that in these times any company 
should 3aeld to the demands of the mob in the manner that this company 
has in this case. It is jjerfectly outrageous to see these poor jpeoi^le com- 
pelled to swelter along in the hot sun of a Sunday on their way to church, 
while drunken whites are allowed to crowd decent people entirely out of 
the cars. I refused to ride in the cars of the Sixth Avenue Company for 
years, on account of their colored peoples' cars, and now I shall apply 
the same to the Eighth avenue, I trust you will continue to show up the 
complete meanness of these companies. — N. T. Tribune^ Aug. 7, 18C3. 



Extract from the proceedings of the National Council of the U. L. A., 
held at Baltimore in June, 18G4 : 

Wednesday, June 8, 1864. 

Council met at 3, and adjourned to 5 o'clock, P. M. 
Council met at 5 o'clock, P. M. 



58 

Mr. Tousey, of New York, oflfered the following resolutions, which 
were unanimously adopted, viz. : 

Resolved, That this National Council of the Union League of America, 
hereby most heartily approves and endorses the nominations made by the 
Union National Convention at Baltimore, on the 8th of June, 1864, of 
Abraham Lincoln for President, and of Andrew Johnson for Vice-Presi- 
dent of the United States, and as we are bound by our obligation to do all 
in our power to elect true and reliable Union men, to all offices, and as 
the nominees of said Convention are the only candidates that can hope to 
1)0 elected as loyal men, we regard it as the imperative duty of the mem- 
bers of the Union League to do all that lies in their power to secure their 
election. 

Resolved, That this Council also earnestly approve and indorses the 
platform of principles adopted by said Convention. 

ResoUed, That we will, as individuals and as members of the Union 
League, do all in our power to elect said candidates. 

On motion of Mr. Tousey, the injunction of secrecy was removed from 
these resolutions, and the Secretary directed to furnish a copy to the 
Associated Press. 



UNION CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 

The regular meeting of this body was held at their headquarters, 
corner Broadway and Twenty-third street, last evening, a large delegation 
being present. The following preamble and resolutions, introduced by 
Mr. Tousey, in regard to Messrs. Davis and Wade, were unanimously 
adopted : 

Whereas, We are on the eve of a most important Presidential election, 
the result of which must gravely influence the destinies of the republic, 
thus rendering it necessary that the entire strength of the Union party 
should be brought to bear against the enemies of the country, whether 
such enemies are in arms in the field, or unarmed at home ; and 

Wliereas, There is danger of our strength being divided and frittered 
away by differences of opinion, not on vital points, as to men and mea- 
sures which divisions and differences must inure to the advantage of our 
political opponents (who are the enemies of the Government) ; and 

Whereas, There has recently appeared in the public papers a manifesto 
over the names of Messrs. Wade and Davis, members of Congress, the 
tendency of which is to bring our Chief Magistrate into disrepute by 
weakening the confidence of the people in his administration of public 



affairs, and tlierel)y jeopardizing his re-election to the office for which he 
has been nominated ; therefore be it 

Besohed, By this Union Central Committee of the city and county of 
New York, that we earnestly deprecate the publication of said manifesto, 
and condemn the spirit which seems to have prompted its preparation and 
publication. 

Besolved, That we also condemn the jiractice of those pretended Union 
men, who use their official, social, and party jDosition to bring into disre- 
pute the regularly nominated candidate of the party. 

Besohed, That our faith in the judgment and patriotism of the Presi- 
dent of the United States is unshaken, and we hereby renew our jjledge 
to do all in our power to insure his re-election. 

Hesolved, That copies of these resolutions, properly attested ])y the 
officers of the Committee, be transmitted to the President and to Messrs. 
Wade and Davis. 

Tribune, Aug. 25, 1864. 



GENERAL BUTLER'S PiVPER TAX. 

New York, April 8, 18G4. 
Major-General B. F. Butler : 

Sir — We have been informed that the privilege of selling newspapers 
and other serial reading in the department under your command is 
farmed out to one party, and that other dealers aro not allowed " free 
trade " in consequence of said regulation. Will you do us the favor to 
inform us if this monopolizing regulation is in pursuance of your order, 
for we are loth to believe that a Massachusetts man, fresh from the land 
where the Press has, as it were, unrestricted circulation, could place any 
obstruction in the way of a universal S2)read of intelligence among the 
people. A reply will much oblige, 
Yours, respectfully, 

The American News Company. 

SINCLAIR TOUSEY, President. 



Headquarters Eighteenth Army Corps, ; 
Department of Virginia and North Carolina, \ 
Fortress Monroe, April 11, 18G4. 
Sir — Your note of the 8th of April is received. You have not been 
correctly informed. The iDrivilege of selling daily and weekly news- 
papers, not published in my department, has been put exclusively in the 
hands of one man, Mr. Bond, who pays the United States a certain tax 
for the privilege, and he is held responsible for the loyal character of the 



60 

reading furnished tlie soldiers. By tliat means I have no difficulty in 
controlling the circulation of such pajjers as The News, The World, The 
Catholic Repository, Boston Courier, and other treasonable sheets of a like 
character. Every one agrees that there ought to be regulations to regu- 
late the sale of poisonous liquors and drugs, -which kill the body. Hov? 
much more ought there to be a regulation of the sale of poisonous and 
pei'nicious writings that kill the soul. Mr. Bond pays a portion of the 
profits to the Government of the United States, and kee^DS the prices 
within proper limit. All other periodicals, such as magazines and pam- 
phlets, are sold freely through the Department. If you have any complaints 
to make of his refusing to deal justly and properly for loyal newspapers, 
I should be happy to receive them and redress them. 
I have the honor to be. 

Very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

BENJ. F. BUTLER, 

Major- Gen. Commanding, 
To S. TousET, President American News Co., 
121 Nassau street. New York. 



Office of the American News Compaky, 
121 Nassau Street. 
New- York, Ajoril 13, 1865. 
Major-General B. F, Butler : 

Sir — "We beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of the 
11th. 

Admitting your jjower to inforce any regulation in your department, 
that your views of the public interest may dictate, we yet demur to the 
reason assigned for the regulation referred to, as we can not see how the 
levying of a tax on certain commodities, gives you any more control over 
the sale and distribution of such articles, than you possessed before the 
tax was levied — as the power to lay and collect taxes, carries with it the 
power to prohibit ; in fact you say as much, when you declare that this 
regulation enables you to exclude certain disloyal sheets. 

This mode of restricting the circulation of disloyal papers, cripples the 
sale of the loyal ones, by enhancing the cost thereof to the consumer, who 
pays the tax. 

You understand this fact in political economy as well as any man in 
America. 



61 

You state that Mr. Bond, in addition to the tax he pays for farm priv- 
ilege, also pays a share of the profits to the United States. 

This, in our opinion, only adds so much more to the cost of the article 
to the consumer, and therefore, corresjjondingly restricts the circulation of 
the very parsers that ought to go entirely uncrippled. We refer to those 
of loyal character. One instance wUl suffice to illustrate our point, if we 
are correctly informed. Before this tax was levied, the New York Ledger 
sold in your department for five or six cents ; now ten cents are demanded 
for it. 

This license does not come oat of the pockets of the farmer, Mr. 
Bond ; neither does the share of the profits allotted to the United States. 
By the way. General, don't you think that the loyal, moneyed, and pro- 
ducing classes of our people can support the Government, without " tax- 
ing " the poor soldier for his newspaper ? "We incline to that opinion. 

You say that there is no license needed to sell magazines and pamph- 
lets ; that they " are sold freely through the department." "Will you allow 
us to state, General, that there is as rank treason published in magazines 
and pamphlets, as in newspapers ; and being in more preservable form, 
has more lasting efiect. Such magazines as the Old Guard, by C. C. Burr, 
and the thousands of disloyal, treasonable pamphlets, issued by the cop- 
per-heads of this and other cities, works more deadly harm to the soldiers, 
than many of the semi-secession papers. 

Your tax system, you say, does not stop these from circulation in your 
de^Dartment; but it does restrict the circulation of those of admitted 
loyalty. In regard to this particular class of reading matter (that is 
magazines and pamphlets), there seems to be a misunderstanding between 
yourself and the custom-house, here ; for on applying to the Collector, last 
week, for jiermission to send reading matter, we were refused a permit, on 
the ground, that pennits must issue from your department ; and in conse- 
quence of such ruling here, we lost the sale of a large amount. "We ask 
for correct information on this jooint, as we have frequent orders from your 
department for reading matter, other than newspapers. "We also ask that 
this license system on the sale of daily and weekly newspapers be abro- 
gated ; that the division of the profits with the government be abolished, 
and there be adopted in jjlace of both, an unrestricted system of free trade 
in all reading matter, that is allowed a sale at all in your department : 
believing that this course will best conduce to the interest of all con- 
cerned — producers, consumers, and the government too. 

We do not ask for the circulation of any such works as you may deem 



62 

improper ; but we do ask that all sucli as you approve of, be left untram- 
meled with taxes and licenses. 

Very respectfully, yours, &c., 

The American News Company. 

SINCLAIR TOUSEY, President. 
p_ s, — ^e iuclose a complaint from an old customer, at Portsmouth, 
to which we beg leave to call your attention. 



Headquarters Eighteenth Army Corps, ) 
Department op Virginia and North Carolina, ) 

Fortress Monroe, April 17, 1864. 

Si^R — ;Mr. Bohn's privilege for selling newspapers was given him as 
the highest l^idder, but with restriction that he should not raise the price 
of his periodicals, and he has not done so. You was misinformed upon 
that point. I have no doubt of the proj)osition of political economy that 
the tax upon an article is paid by the consumer, that depends on whether 
there is free trade in that article so as to bring it down to a living profit 
by comijetition. But in this case Mr. Bohn sells the papers as cheap as 
anybody else, but for the exclusive right to sell them pays so much to 
the United States, and a portion of the profits, which is regulated by his 
profits. This can be made very plain. SujDpose the rate of interest was 
fixed at seven (7) per cent, by law, and a given bank should pay a large 
sum of money for the sole privilege of loaning money, which it might 
well afl;brd to do, would a borrower therefore jDay any more than seven 
per cent, on his loans because by doubling or trebling the business of the 
bank it made three times the profits, and could afibrd to pay one-third of 
the profits for the privilege, and still make a third more. 

I shall deal with Mr. Bohn veiy strictly if I know of any attemi^t of 
his to enhance his prices beyond those charged elsewhere, because of the 
sum which he pays for his exclusive privilege of selling. 

Your communication is respectfully returned, with reference to the 
indorsement of Captain Carroll, Provost-Marshal, 

In reference to the matter of permission to bring books mto this 
Department, that stands upon the same ground as all other merchandise. 
This l)eing an insurrectionary district, by trade regulations nothing can 
be sent into it of any sort for sale without a permit from my headquarters, 
and tliis regulation exists all over the revolted States, and these permits 
arc always granted upon application of reputable people. 

By an examination of the Treasury Regulations at the Custom House) 



63 

you Avill he able to ascertain the rules about tins matter. At least, certain 
it is that I cannot spend more time in iastructmg j^ou in the Trade Regu- 
lations of the Treasury Department. 

I have the honor to be, sir. 

Very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

BENJAMIN F. BUTLER, 

Majar- General Commanding. 

To Sinclair Tousey, Esq, President American News Co., 121 Nassau 
street, New York. 



New York, April 26, 1864. 
Major-General B. F. Butler : 

Sir — Absence from the city has prevented an earlier aclcnowledgment 
of the receipt of your favor of the 17th. 

We do not desire to trespass on your time and patience in discussing 
what you may consider trivial matters, but there are some points in yours 
of the above date, that seem to call for, or at least invite, a reply. 

You admit that the tax on any article is paid by the consumer, and 
then go on to justify that admission by stating that " that depends on 
whether there is free trade in that article, so as to bring it down to a 
living profit by competition," which you attempt to show is the case in 
the matter under consideration, by stating that " Mr. Bohn sells the 
papers as cheap as any one else." That is just the point. General. We 
do not doubt that, but Mr. B. nor any one else can or will sell as cheap 
with a tax to pay as without one, and that is our cause of complaint. 
Let us illustrate. Before a tax was levied, and before this exclusive 
privilege was given, any dealer in your department could send to this 
city and Philadelphia and Baltimore, and buy the papers wanted, at as 
low a price as Mr. B. now buys them in those cities ; but now, under 
your exclusive system, none of the dealers buy direct from the producers. 
Why ? Because they cannot sell in your department, except by paying a 
profit to ]Mr. B., and that profit must come from the consumer, who buys 
from the middle-man, that your system obliges to buy from Bolin. We 
note what your Provost-Marshal says on this point, but it is not satis- 
factory. He says that " Mr. Bohn's agent informs him that no increase 
has been made in the price of papers." We respectfully suggest that an 
accused party is not always the proper witness as to his own guilt or in- 
nocence. If information was sought for beyond this source, as to former 
and present prices, by asking the newsboys, peddlers, and consumers, 
and others interested in the matter, more perfect information would be 



64 

obtained, and here allow us to intimate, very respectfully, that we think 
you have not given this matter the attention it deserves, nor such as you 
usually pay to matters coming under your notice. 

The subject is one of much importance to the Loyal Press of the 
country, as well as to the reading people in your department. 

You further attempt to show that Mr. B.'s exclusive right causes no 
increase of prices, by sui^posing that the borrowers of money would not 
have to pay more than a fixed rate of interest in case the exclusive right 
to loan money was confined to one bank, which assumption is based on 
the fact that the rate of interest is fixed by law. Are we to understand by 
this that you have fixed the j)rices of papers. &c., in your department ? 
If you have not, the argument does not apply, and if you have thus 
established prices, then we ask that all persons may have the right to sell 
at those prices without paying tribute to Mr. Bohn. 

But a word more on this exclusive right of the one bank to loan 
money. It is an old and true business adage that " competition bene- 
fits trade." Can there be any competition where there is no opjjosi- 
tion ? If there are two lenders seeking investments for their capital, does 
not a borrower stand a better chance to get a cheap loan than if there 
were but one lender ? True, neither can get but the legal interest, but 
if there is more than one, one may take less than the regular rate rather 
than to have his capital remain idle. Apply this principle to the case 
under consideration and you have another reason for removing the re- 
strictions now placed on the sales of papers in your department. 

There are several points in our former letter that seemed to us to be 
worthy a notice by you, but which you have passed by ; but there is one 
point in your letter that we shall not fail to notice, and that is the last 
sentence, which we think is entirely unworthy of and unbecoming a 
Major-General of the army of the United States, inasmuch as it is uncalled 
for and entirely uncivil. 

We have endeavored to address you in a civil manner, becoming yoiu- 
position and our own self-respect, and if our letters have failed in their 
respect, it was accidental not intentional. 

We conclude by again asking that the exclusive system of selling 
papers, as adopted in your department, be abolished, and the right to 
sell them be free for all, subject to proper regulations as to the character 
of the publication sold. 

Very respectfully, &c. , 

SINCLAR TOUSEY, 
President of the American News Company. 

The objectionable restrictions were removed. 



65 

MEETING IN THE NINTH WARD. 

{From the Tribune, April 23, 1865.) 

A meeting of the men and women of the Nintli Ward was held last 
evening at Bleeckcr Buildings, to mingle their grief with the all-peiTad- 
ing grief which fills the land, and express their abhorrence of the horrid 
deed which jjlunged a nation into mourning. A large number attended, 
particularly of the fairer sex. The room was decorated ^vith the sad 
emblematic colors of afiliction. At the back of the j)latform were portraits 
of the fallen martyr, with the ever memorable words full of devout reve- 
rence of his Springfield farewell address inscril:)ed beneath. High above 
both were the defiant words of Andrew Johnson when in his j)lace in the 
United States years ago he confronted the then dark conspirators, and in 
a short time afterward open traitors : " Show me a man who makes war 
on our Government and I will show you a traitor. If I were President 
of the United States, when tried and convicted, by the eternal God I 
would have him hung." Mr. John Wilson was appointed Chairman and 
Mr. Irving Adams, Secretary. The follo^ving resolutions were offered by 
S. Tousey and adopted : 

Whereas, The men and women of the Ninth Ward of the city of New 
York, here assembled, with their minds deeply impressed by the awful 
crime that has plunged a people in woe, by the terrible murder of the 
head of the nation, by the attempted additional butchery of the Secretary 
of State, cannot refrain from mingling their tears with their countrymen ; 
cannot refrain from giving vent to the feelings of grief that have draijcd 
a nation in the habiliments of mourning, and thus to express, in this feeble 
manner, their profound sense of the dreadful crisis through which we are 
now passing ; therefore be it 

Besolced, That, though grief has struck us down, we are not despond- 
ent ; that though we mourn, we will not refuse to be comforted ; that the 
star of hope that always lights the horizon of a trusting ijeoj^le, we be- 
lieve still shines for us. 

Resolved, That we utterly and completely condemn and abhor the crime 
we now mourn ; that we invoke the restless spirit. Eternal Justice, to 
publicly bring the red-handed, fiendish-hearted assassins before the law- 
ful tribunals of an outraged and indignant nation, there to meet the pun- 
ishment due their unheard-of crimes. 

Resolved, That in this last great horror we have a fitting climax to the 
continued horrors of the diabolical spirit of secession, slavery, and the 
utter disregard and abnegation of all humanities that have characterized 
the rebellion from the striking down of the nation's symbol from the 



66 

Trails of Sumter to the striking down of the nation's head in the discharge 
of his great duties. 

Iiesolced, That the spirit manifested in the long catalogue of barbarous 
practices for the past four years by those aiming to destroy the nation, 
evokes and shall receive our most hearty and thorough condemnation : 
that we execrate and loathe it and its aiders, abettors, sympathizers, and 
apologists, and we hope and trust that it and they may speedily and for- 
ever pass away from among mankind. 

liesohed, That the trial which this nation is now successfully passing 
through furnishes another and more convincing proof of the strength and 
durability of our form of government — another and more convincing 
evidence of the self-reliance that a great nation has in itself, and that 
in the case of us Americans, the voice of the people is but the voice of 
God. 

Besohed, That we tender the sympathy of sorrowing hearts to the be- 
reaved family of our late President, whose virtues endeared him to the 
millions of his countiymen, and which " plead like angels, trumpet- 
tongued, against the deep damnation of his taking otf." 

Hesolved, That we sincerely trust that it may be in accordance with the 
will of our Great Ruler to restore the Secretary of State to the great 
s^jhere of his usefulness. 

Hesolved, That to the new President who has been so suddenly called to 
as great a trust as ever rested on human shoulders, we pledge our sup- 
port in his efforts to crush rebellion, punish treason, and restore our coun- 
try to the blessings of prosperous and ijermauent peace. 

Eloquent and patriotic addresses were delivered by Major Haggerty, 
n. Everett Russell, the Rev. Mr. Blair and Dr. Cowling. 

The Rev. Mr. Blair concluded his address as follows : Let us now with 
more determined zeal and united devotion raise up our glorious Stars and 
Stripes, the emblem of our Union, the emblem of our victory over the 
foreign foe " on many a well-fought field," the emblem of our triumphs 
over rebellion at home ; remembering the names of the great and good 
that have passed from among us — Washington who established this 
Union, Jackson who preserved this Union, and Lincoln who slied his 
blood to cement it. [Great applause.] 



At the regular monthly meeting of the Union General Committee (city 
of New York), held in May, 18G5, the following resolutions, offered by Mr. 
Tousey, at the suggestion of Mr. Postmaster James Kelly, were unani- 
mously adopted: 

" Hesolved, That this Committee takes great pleasure in tendering to his 



67 

Excellency, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, its earnest 
and undivided support in his efforts to crush the rebellion, re-establish 
the supremacy of the laws of the nation, prevent treason by ]ninishing 
traitors, restore peace and commercial intercourse throughout the entire 
Union, to promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty* 

'■'■Resolved, That our faith in the President, as manifested by our suffrages 
in aiding to elect him Vice-President, has been wholly confirmed by the 
sentiments to which he has given utterance since he has been called to the 
Presidency, and we assure him that we will manifest our faith in him by 
our works in support of his administration." 

At the above meeting but few prominent Federal officials were present, 
and those who were there acquired no personal capital from the above 
resolutions. The majority of that committee, at the time referred to. 
were "conservatives." Early in the next month, some of the '"radical" 
members of the party called a public meeting in sup^jort of the administra- 
tion of Andrew Johnson, recently become President by the murder of Pre- 
sident Lincoln. The meeting was calledfor Wednesday, June 7, 1865, and 
Lieuteuant-General Grant was to be present. The conservatives con- 
sidered this move by the radicals as calculated to take the wind out of 
theii" political sails ; they therefore hastily called a special meeting of the 
General Committee for the Tuesday evening preceding the meeting 
called by the radicals. At their special meeting, June 6, 18G5, a series of 
resolutions, laudatory of President Johnson were introduced by Mr. 
Abram Wakeman (then Surveyor of the port of Nevt^ York) and adopted, 
after which the following occurred as rejjorted by the Ecening Post of 
June 7, 1865 : 

" Sinclair Tousey offered the following additional resolution : 

" Resolved, That without desiring to interfere with the policy of the 
Administration, we respectfully beg leave to suggest that good faith and 
justice to the black loyalists of the South, as well as security for the loyal 
whites of the Southern States require that the official influence of the 
national authorities shall be exercised in favor of allowing the privilege 
of voting to the loyal freedmen ; believing that the future welfare of our 
country can be better trusted to the franchise of loyal black men than to 
disloyal whites." 

]Mr. John Fitch supported Mr. Tousey's resolution with great earnest- 
ness, as the only sure means of organizing and sustaining loyal constitu- 
tional government, and prevent future secession movements. 

Jlr. Hugh Gardiner was in tiivor of negro suffi-age, but did not wish 
anything to be done to embarrass the action of President Johnson. 



6S 

Mr, Tousey deprecated the reference of Ms resolution to the Commit- 
tee on Resolutions. It was equivalent to killing it without taking the 
responsibility of so doing. This committee ought to take a decided 
position, and it would greatly facilitate the determination of the matter in 
the only way in which it should be determined. 

The ayes and noes were called, and the motion to commit adopted by 
a vote of forty-four to twenty-five. 

On reading these proceedings of the general committee, in this day's 
paper, Daniel S. Dickinson, the U. S. District Attorney for the New York 
district, expressed surprise that such a resolution should, at such a time, 
have been referred to a committee ; and asked " if they (the committee,) 
would ever learn anything." He was in favor of the adoption of the 
resolution. 

The meeting under the ausjDices of the radicals, was held on Wednes- 
day evening, June 7th, 1865, and was the largest ever held in the great 
hall of Cooper Union. In addition to pledging support to the adminis- 
tration of President Johnson, the following resolution on " Black 
Suffrage," reported by lilr. John H. White, was, with the others, received 
with applause, and unanimously adopted : 

SUFFRAGE. 
Hesolved, That we hold this truth to be self-evident, that he with 
whom we can intrust the bullet to save the life of the nation, we can like- 
wise mtrust the ballot to preserve it ; and we invoke the co-operation of the 
Federal and State Governments, and the people throughout the Union, to 
use all lawful means to establish a system of sufcrage which shall be equal 
and just to all — black as well as white." 

T]icse two sets of resolutions are inserted as part of the history of the 
times. 



ON THE DEATH AKD BUKIAL OP PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 

(Fi'om the Tribune, May 17, 1865.) 
WAS IT EVER PARALLELED? 
To the Editor of the New Yorl Tribune : 

Sir — The year we are now passing through, this Eighteen Hundred 
AND Sixty-Five, stands out in grand, bold relief from all its predecessors. 
a Star of the first magnitude in Time's constellation. 

It saw the end of the imperious Slaveholder's Rebellion. 



G9 

It saw the. end of American Slaveiy. 

Its earliest flowers covered tbe bier of a nation's mur ■ 

The suu and showers of its young mouths freshen. 
over the martyr's grave. 

Its Spring-time witnessed the grandest funeral page; 
ored the dead or graced the living. 

It saw a nation, thirty millions strong, drop scaldmj. .fson 

on the tomb of their slain Chief. 

It saw his murderer's dishonored corse sunk in an unknown place, ere 
the victim reached his grave. 

It saw a procession of grief-struck mourners two thousand miles in 
length. 

It saw the Great D|ead carried to his home by a Nation, in whose fu- 
neral train cities were pall bearers, military chieftains were coi*pse- 
watchers, high civic functionaries guardians of his Bier, great Imperial 
States chief mourners, millions of uncovered heads bowed in tearful grief, 
as the mightly cortege wound its solemn march under the sun-light of day 
and the torch-light of night, from the scene of active duty, to the quiet 
rest of an honest man's grave. 

It saw millions of a down-trodden race lifted to the dignities and re- 
sponsibilities of humanity. 

It saw those millions bowed down, and theii* heads bent with grief as 
sorrowing as children feel at a father's grave. 

It saw villages clothed in mourning ; towns draped in Death's insig- 
nia; great Cities suspend their traffic; the busy marts of commerce 
hushed with awe, while the silence of living death covered an Empire. 
Fit expressions of grief for a martyr. 

It saw the dwellings of the rich covered with costly badges of woe ; 
and the homes of the poor draped m the more simple and eloquent sym- 
bols of a People's sorrow. 

It heard holy ministers of Christ's Gospel speak words of peace for the 
murdered Dead, and of comforting condolence for the living. 

It heard the heart prayers of sincere millions for the rest of the de- 
parted, and that his death might not leave the nation in the utter dark- 
ness of desolation. 

It heard a nation of mourners chant solemn dirges in accord with organ 
peals and thunder of artillery, over the passing body of the nation's 
martyr. 

If respectful, manifest sorrow for the dead, be any proof of civilization, 
then did Sixty-five witness a greater and more perfect civilization than any 
other child of Father Time. 

5 



70 

As the days of Sixty-five rolled into weeks, and the weeks wheeled 
into months, the meridian of the year saw the people of other lands meet 
in sorrow for the stricken nation ; heard their grief utterance, saw their 
Annointed Rulers bow their heads in the awe of sorrowing sympathy, 
and for once a child of Time saw 

" A world in tears." 

Sixty-Five saw in the mourned one the incarnation of Freedom-Loving 
Liberty-Preaching people, the impersonation of the capabilities and pos- 
sibilities of Institutions based on the voice of man echoing the voice of 
God, in the recognition of human rights and manly duties, the Emanci- 
pator of a Race, and the Guarantor of their Liberties. 

It saw in the " deep damnation of his taking off" the possibilities and 
capabilities of the barbaric system which the Great Martyr had, with a 
pen mightier than conqueror's sword, condemned to utter destruction. 

It saw the world-old conflict between Liberty and Slavery end in 
favor of Liberty regulated by Law ; of Justice founded on Humanity ; of 
Civilization based on Right. 

Was it ever paralleled ? 



THE UNION LEAGUE CLUB ON SUFFRAGE AT THE SOUTH. 

{From the Evening Post, June 15, 1865.) 

At the last regular monthly meeting of the Union League Club, the 
following resolutions were offered by Mr. Sinclair Tousey, and adopted 
only one member voting in the negative : 

Resolved, That the Union League Club of the city of New York in- 
vokes the influence of the National Government in the establishment of a 
system of sufi&'age in the rebellious States, which shall be equal and just 
to all, without distinction of color. 

Besohed, That a copy of the above resolution, signed by the President 
and Secretary of the club, be transmitted to the President of the United 
States and to each member of the Cabinet. 



V 



